27 knots and still not lit up

Andy Nicholson talks to Tim Dengate, crew boss on Neville Crichton's Hobart race favourite Alfa Romeo

Boxing Day's annual run south from Sydney to Hobart at present shows two favourites for line honours: Mike Slade's newly rebuilt Leopard - renamed Canon - and Neville Crichton's Shockwave, renamed Alfa Romeo. Both boats are Reichel-Pugh designed supermaxis, before that phrase is redefined by the new 150ft giants for Hasso Plattner and Bob Miller. Of the two Alfa Romeo is the newer and is the local boat racing in local waters.

Since her launch Alfa Romeo has been tuning up taking part in events along the east coast of Australia, most recently the Canon Big Boat Series.

So the first question is obvious. Just how fast have you been? “We had a day when its was blowing 30-35 knots off the Heads and decided to go out and give the boat a bit of a thrashing, it was sitting on 27-28 knots quite easily and we were getting up to 32 out of it,” describes crew boss Tim Dengate of the windy day when they took the boat out off Sydney Heads.

It should be pointed out that this was with boat in Sydney to Hobart trim: with a heavy bulb and no water ballast, so it fits under the maximum 1.6 rating allowed for the race. The prospect of more speed is mouthwatering and I suspect the crew talk about this more than any other aspect of the project.

After the Hobart, Alfa Romeo goes to New Zealand, they will swap the bulb for a much lighter one and switch on six tonnes of water ballast. “With the water ballast it’s going to make a huge difference, we will be considerably lighter with the smaller bulb and the boat will be lit up downwind” explains Dengate.

The whole system of ballast management is impressive. They will use the main engine, which, using turbines, will be able to shift the entire six tonnes to the other side in less than 20 seconds.

For the Sydney-Hobart race they will be taking 24 crew including several Volvo Ocean Race personnel. Sharing the driving with owner Neville Crichton will be Noel Drennon (ex illbruck), Ian ‘Barney’ Walker (ex News Corp) and fresh import from New Zealand, GBR Challenge helmsman Andy Beadsworth. Stu Bettney (ex illbruck) is on the bow, with David Rolfe (ex SEB) in a trimming slot alongside sail co-ordinator Alby Pratt (ex News Corp). North Sails Australia's Michael Coxon will be doing the tactics and Murray Spence, who is the boat’s Project Manager, will be navigating.

The remainder of the crew are a mixture of professionals and local sailors. Dengate explains the life of the grinding team: “The poor old grinders, they get a thrashing, you look back at them sometimes and think 'oh my god, you poor blokes.'”

Neville Crichton has a history of sailing with many Team New Zealand sailors and it is anticipated that many will join the boat when she is shipped up to Europe in the spring after competing in Auckland’s Millennium Regatta just prior to the America’s Cup. The program for next summer has yet to be finalised.

Crichton is an experienced owner having competed in many Admiral's Cups and Kenwood Cups. His previous maxi called Shockwave is now Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory. This experience is reflected in all aspects of the new campaign, says Dengate who explains “Neville has been very good with everything to do with the boat, it’s all 110% and he really hasn’t held back on anything in any area; sails, people, the whole thing has been really well done, basically Neville has said ‘if you need it, then get it’” A 90ft maxi with a 38m tall mast needs a lot of attention.

The rig has been built by Southern Spars and all halyards have their own lock system as they run over the sheave and into the mast. Much of this is upgraded Volvo 60 technology, which has been adapted to the needs of a maxi which races inshore and offshore. So far there have been no incidents with reliability of these systems, “which is pretty important really” says Dengate, describing what runs through his mind as they approach a bottom mark in Sydney Harbour with the boat travelling at 22 knots.

All the spinnakers on the boat are asymmetric; the largest at 630m2 is 30% bigger than an America's Cup spinnaker. “Sailing angles downwind are around 130 to 140 degrees so the pole doesn’t come off the forestay, two metres at the most, and it sticks out over the bow by 3m, its f***ing immense” explains Dengate. Take downs are AC style, with drop lines and a winch system, although this will altered offshore when the tack will be spiked off and the kite collected letterbox style between the mainsail and boom.

When it comes to talking about the Hobart race, Dengate is in no way blasé about Alfa Romeo being the pre-race favourite. “Mike Slade’s Canon is 98ft long and I think when we get onto a reach, or tight fetch with the jib top, the waterline length and weight of the boat, I would imagine it will go very well against us.” Also in the frame is Ludde Ingvall’s maxi Nicorette.

The main challenge, says Dengate, is actually making it to Hobart. “We’re not thinking, we’re just going to get there first. The big thing is to actually get there in one piece, which in itself is a major. The bigger the boat the more they come out of the water, shock loadings increase…You can’t take anything for granted as the boats can get smashed to pieces in the race, no matter how much they cost they can still fall to pieces”

The 630 miles to Hobart is notorious for its changeable and unpredictable weather. For Alfa Romeo to straight line at 25 knots would mean the course completed in just over 25 hours. Getting there in one piece is what we all want to see, then dump that keel, load up the water ballast and bring her to Europe.