Holy Hobart Hell…: Well, I’m back from the southern hemisphere summer (convenient, isn’t it, that it’s always summer–or nearly summer–somewhere?) and there has been a lot of boat breaking going on. The classic Sydney to Hobart yacht race set off on December 26th and, true to form, it was a real bastard. We’re talking gale force headwinds for most of the 628-mile course, and out of 116 starters there have been 58 retirements so far (50 percent). Click here for the official website, and all the latest finishing info. Notably, two of the biggest and baddest boats in the race, the supermaxis Skandia and Konica Minolta, didn’t have what it took to complete the course. Skandia was abandoned when her swing keel came loose and threatened to break off and capsize the yachct. Konica Minolta retired after launching off a 10-meter wave and cracking almost in half. Here are their stories. First up, Skandia and owner Grant Wharington:

“We were going so well,” Wharington said. “We were sailing conservatively on port tack heading inshore where there would be calmer water conditions when we landed off a large rogue wave. At the time we were sailing under No 4 jib and two reefs in the main.very comfortable with the situation.” The impact bent both hydraulic rams controlling the big canting keel, which came loose and swung to one side, laying the boat on its side. The crew was able to stabilize the keel for a time and began motoring downwind. However, the keel came loose again and began chopping through the hull of the boat. With a police launch fast approaching, and afraid that the keel could fall off the yacht, capsizing it, at 8:00 am the 16 members of the crew transferred to liferafts, and were taken aboard the police launch Van Diemen about a half hour later.

Skandia–which was uninsured–is still floating off Tasmania somewhere, capsized and keel-less. First salvor there gets a big payday.

Now, here’s Stewart Thwaites, and the story of Konica Minolta:

“We had a relatively hard night (in gale force winds and big seas) but nothing we couldn’t handle. But we launched off a ten meter wave with no back,” Thwaites explained. “The bow felt like it was facing the sky and a good proportion of the keel was out of the water,” Konica Minolta’s principal helmsman and America’s Cup sailor, Gavin Brady added. “There was that lonely five seconds while we waited to fall. You hope for a soft landing but.”

When the twenty-seven ton yacht smashed down into the bottom of the wave’s trough “we heard a crack but we were not sure what it was,” Thwaites said. “It was an all hands on deck situation.” They found that the cabin top had creased between the mast and the sleave of her enormous canting keel, where there are intense structural pressures on the boat. For an hour the crew attempted to slow down the yacht as they braced the damaged area, but with the boat head on to the big swell and the back and forth motion bending the hull, Thwaites and Brady decided that if they continued sailing there was a real possibility the keel could fall off the boat. The sails were lowered and they motored towards the Tasmanian coast. Their race was over. “It was a hard decision,” Thwaites said.

You’d think these guys might have had enough. But according to Thwaites: “Every year I say it’s my last one, but probably I’ll be back.” And Wharrington, who really has got to be hurting, summed up the Never Say Die Aussie spirit: “I’ll be back. This is a great race, isn’t it?” Yes it is, Grant. Particularly is you are a hard-charging, masochistic Wetass. Just check out some of these photos…









(Photos: Daniel Forster/Rolex)