Sydney/Hobart Wrapup–Three Down, None To Go: This year’s race featured three super-maxis, and their designers and engineers should be scratching their heads. First, Skandia lost her keel, went upside down, and was eventually towed in a complete (and uninsured) $4 million wreck. We’ve posted the pics, but click here for a great TV news summary of the whole sad story. It’s got helo’s-eye footage of the abandonment, the floating wreck and an interview with owner Grant Warrington.

Not to be outdone, Konica Minolta flew off a wave and threatened to break in half. Click here to read an interview with designer Jim Pugh, who analyzes what might have gone wrong.

That left one maxi, Luddi Ingvall’s new Nicorette, to take line honors. So far, so good. But yesterday, during an easy corporate sail the mast, err, fell down:

“This afternoon, during a corporate sail with Nicorette sponsor clients, the 90 footer was about half a mile seaward of the entrance to the Gold Coast Seaway at around 3.30pm (AEST), sailing under main and headsail, in a flat seaway, at about 10 knots.

Suddenly with a thunderous crack, her mast splintered and broke near the boom gooseneck and fell cleanly into the water.

The mast and sails are in 22 metres of water and the total bill is expected be around $1 million.

A Nicorette spokeswoman, Jane Hyland said the crew and guests had returned to the marina and Police confirmed no-one was injured.

‘Unfortunately these boats are a bit like F1 racing cars,’ she said.

‘You can race them through Bass Strait and nothing happens to them and then in very moderate conditions we break a mast.’

She said an early assessment suggested there was an engineering failure.”

“Engineering failure.” Ya’ think? I mean, I doubt if the mast was designed to do that. A full report is due to be posted on Nicorette’s web site. Until it is, you can amuse yourself with Ingvall’s excellent report on Nicorette’s line honors victory in this year’s Sydney-Hobart. It’s got great detail on the weather, Nicorette’s tactics, and a nearly hour-by-hour account of how they won. Check out this interesting vignette on what it’s like to field press calls during the middle of the race:

“Speaking to the press on my satellite phone, questions were posed to why we were behind and the answer was easy. We lost at least 6 miles on our “boo-boo” after the start and another 12-18 miles due to sailing with a small spinnaker meant for reaching, when we should have had the “Nicorette Green Stones” (Or Big Bertha as I call my Running spinnakers) flying.

Yes, yes. But do you think you have any chance of catching them now?

What do you say, off course I bloody well think so, I have the fastest boat and a great crew, we have had a setback, but we are still carrying out our plan.

A few hours later another press call on the satellite phone.

According to the yacht tracker you are not catching up, why??

Blasted “Yacht Tracker”, I cannot sit in the middle of the Bass straits and explain over a 5 dollar a minute satellite phone to everyone that needs to know that we are sailing higher (closer to the correct course) and the others are sailing faster (and more off the correct course) and although the tracker says that they are doing well, the lower they disappear under our line the longer it will be for them to come back.

It is clear as mud. What goes down has to come up again…or something like that.”

Ah, it’s enough to make you nostalgic for the good old days, when half the point of ocean racing was to disappear offshore where you sailed blissfully in your own little universe until you hit the finish…



“There’s no doubt about it, Ludde. We’re definitely faster with the mast up…”