Jessica Watson (Photo by EPA/Dean Lewins)
Tens of thousands of fans waving pink flags are expected to line Sydney Harbour’s foreshore on Saturday to welcome back round-the-world sailor Jessica Watson.
The 16-year-old’s homecoming is expected to rank among the biggest events in Sydney as the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority prepares for a huge crowd.
It has classified Watson’s arrival as a Class One event – the same rating it gives to New Year’s Eve celebrations and the Mardi Gras.
When Australian Kay Cottee, the first woman to complete a solo nonstop circumnavigation of the globe, returned to Sydney Harbour in 1988 she was greeted by a crowd of 100,000 people.
The crowd on Saturday could be even bigger, taking into account the popularity of Watson’s journey blog.
Watson is expected to complete her solo, nonstop voyage on Saturday, sailing through the official finish line at Sydney Heads about 11.30am (AEST).
One hour later, after her passport has been checked by Customs onboard her yacht, Ella’s Pink Lady, she will step on to land for the first time in almost seven months into the arms of her parents at the Opera House.
Watson’s managers are hoping Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and NSW Premier Kristina Keneally will also be there to welcome her.
Special event clearways will be in place in the Sydney central business district, Double Bay, Mosman and Watsons Bay from 9am to 4pm and roads may be closed by police if required.
NSW Transport Minister David Campbell said it was difficult to predict the size of Saturday’s crowd.
“It is not something that we have experience of,” he told reporters in Sydney on Monday.
“New Year’s Eve, Mardi Gras, we know what to expect … What we do know is that a lot of people are in awe of the achievement of this young woman.
“We’re planning for a very large event.”
Mr Campbell would not specify what the event was costing the state government and Events NSW, or whether Watson’s management, 5 Oceans Media, was paying some of the costs.
He said the cost to taxpayers would be evaluated “at the end of the process”.
“It’s part of governing. It’s part of providing services to our community and it’s one of the challenges that comes along from time to time,” Mr Campbell said.
The public relations company managing Saturday’s event, Janet Glover PR & Events, said it believed the recent controversy surrounding Watson’s voyage had galvanised local support for the young sailor.
Sail-world.com magazine claimed last week the teen’s route had cut corners, saying that she was more than 2000 nautical miles (about 3700 kilometres) short of a world record and has not travelled far enough north of the equator.
But Watson’s management said that wasn’t true.
“Jessica has adhered to every component of her chosen route and as of 3pm on Sunday, she had sailed a total of 22,808 nautical miles,” the teen’s project manager, Bruce Arms, wrote on Watson’s website.
In order to claim a World Sailing Speed Record Council record, a sailor must be aged over 18, must cover 21,600 nautical miles and fulfil a series of technical requirements.
Watson, who will be three days shy of her 17th birthday when she arrives in Sydney, may have not travelled far enough above the equator to meet those requirements as the record is not just about distance – it’s also about the route.
But Watson’s management said it’s a moot point as there’s no official body to recognise the under-18 sailor’s feat and, therefore, no official rules for the voyage.
Jessica Watson's Pink Boat (Photo by Colin Merry)
Check out Jessica’s Arrival At http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/
Investec Loyal (Photo by Rolex/Daniel Forster)
The world’s biggest and best assembly of maxi yachts in recent times will contest this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Seven of them will be on the start line, and five have a real chance of leading the fleet of 100 entries into Hobart in the 65th running of the Australian 628-nautical mile ocean-racing classic, which starts on Boxing Day, December 26.
Race record-holder Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI, chasing her fifth consecutive line honours win, faces strongest competition from Neville Crichton’s near sister Reichel/Pugh designed Alfa Romeo, and Mike Slade’s Rolex Fastnet Race record holder ICAP Leopard, a Farr design from the UK.
The Greg Elliott-designed Investec Loyal (Sean Langman) and Etihad Stadium (Grant Wharington), the Don Jones design that formerly raced as Skandia Wild Thing, also have line honours ambitions, although Etihad Stadium’s chances of making the start hang in the balance. On the delivery trip from Melbourne to Sydney last week, Etihad Stadium’s mast broke and “never-say-die” Wharington is desperately trying to have a replacement – Alfa Romeo’s, spare mast – air freighted from France in time for the race start.
All these maxis are canting-keel powered. Leopard, Wild Oats XI, Alfa Romeo and Loyal have been lengthened from 98ft overall to 100ft, to the new maximum length allowed for the Rolex Fastnet and Rolex Sydney Hobart Races.
The competition between these five boats should help to push one of them, given favourable downwind running conditions, to break the race record which stands at 1 day, 18 hours, 40 minutes, 10 seconds, set by Wild Oats XI in 2005.
The contest for the race’s major trophy, the Tattersalls’ Cup for the overall winner on IRC handicap, is wide open and weather-dependent, headed in favouritism by a strong group of TP 52s including last year’s winner Quest (Bob Steel), two re-vamped Reichel/Pugh 62-63 foot near-sister designs, Alan Brierty’s Limit, with Gavin Brady onboard, and Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki, upgraded for their second season. Then there is Ran (Niklas Zennstrom), a Judel/Vrolijk 72 from the UK, untested in the southern hemisphere, but with a formidable track record including winning the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race overall and Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in the Mini Maxi division. Onboard will be America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veterans, tactician Adrian Stead, Steve Hayles, Tim Powell, Andy Hemmings, and Richard Bouzaid. Michael Hiatt’s Living Doll, a one-year old Farr 55, is another hot overall handicap prospect. So is Geoff Ross’ Reichel/Pugh 55 Yendys, which has a new keel that is half a metre deeper and 420kg, and will have Volvo racer and 49er Olympian Chris Nicholson as sailing master and principal helmsman.
The fleet – the second strongest in a decade – includes 12 overseas yachts. Among them is another maxi the 100ft Rapture, a Farr-designed performance cruiser owned by American Brook Lenfest. The Sparkman & Stephens 41 Pinta-M, (Atse Blei) from the Netherlands remained in Australia since the 2008 race (where she finished third in IRC division 4), and will have another crack at the Tattersalls’ Cup.
The head of the fleet duel between Wild Oats XI and Alfa Romeo has been ongoing and close for four years. At their first meeting, Wild Oats XI beat Alfa Romeo by an hour and 16 minutes in her 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours win. Their duel continued in the Mediterranean in 2006 where Alfa Romeo won the 2006 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, with Wild Oats third.
In the 2007 Med season, the two yachts swapped line honours dominance at the Giraglia Rolex Cup and Superyacht Cup at Palma. Then Alfa Romeo took line honours from Oats by 38sec in the first race of the 2007 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup; but, two minutes after the start of race two, Oats’ mast fell down, taking the boat out of the regatta.
While Wild Oats XI returned to Australia, Alfa Romeo stayed on in the Med for the 2008 season. This year, Sydney-based New Zealander Neville Crichton brought Alfa Romeo back to Australia, on the way taking line honours in the 2,225 nm Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, with a time of 5 days, 14hrs, 36mins that broke the race record by more than a day.
Prior to the Transpac, Alfa Romeo put in a new, lighter mast and rigging from Southern Spars, that offers less windage, but otherwise there have been no major changes to the boat. Said Crichton, “There have been little changes that add up to seconds a mile. We tried to pull weight out wherever possible and we have some new sails.”
Crichton sees Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats XI as the most reliable boats of the five line honours favourites. “In a heavy southerly, Leopard would have the advantage. Heavy air running would suit Etihad Stadium; Wild Oats XI and ourselves are more all-rounders.”
Despite being lengthened to 100ft, Wild Oats XI will sail with fewer crew, 18 instead of last year’s 24 which, notes skipper and helmsman Mark Richards, will represent a weight saving of over one ton in crew baggage and body weight. While numbers are reduced, they still sport an all-star lineup with the likes of Volvo winner and ISAF Rolex World Sailor Mike Sanderson, Robbie Naismith, Ian Murray, Adrienne Cahalan, and Ian Burns onboard.
Wild Oats XI and Alfa Romeo were matched equally in speed in the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge; around the 14nm course in Sydney Harbour on Tuesday, the pair were seldom more than two boat lengths apart at each mark rounding in a fair 15-18 knot nor’easter. Alfa Romeo gained the winning lead only when Oats’ wine-glassed her spinnaker when hoisting at the last mark.
“There is nothing between the two boats in speed,” said Wild Oats XI Richards. “In the Hobart it could come down to sail selection and sail changes.”
At the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race, ICAP Leopard, a powerful Farr design, built by McConaghy in Sydney, in her first major long-distance race, smashed the record by 8 hrs, 50min, while Alfa Romeo was among the retirements in that edition’s rough seas and 40 knot winds.
ICAP Leopard finished 27 minutes behind Wild Oats XI in the 2007 Rolex Sydney Hobart after applying pressure all the way, and won line honours again this year in both the Rolex Fastnet and the Rolex Middle Sea Races.
In 2007, she was lengthened to 100ft and fitted with twin rudders – and for Hobart the boat has a new sail wardrobe. “Ninety per cent of the sails we will be using in this race are brand-new,” says boat captain Chris Sherlock.
The crew includes strong afterguard professionals from Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup teams: navigator Jules Salter, watch captains Brad Jackson and Rob Greenhalgh, and tactician Ray Davies. All were aboard for this year’s Rolex Fastnet and Rolex Middle Sea Races.
A fleet of 100 yachts will compete in this year’s race, which starts at 1300 AEDT, 26 December 2009. The Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet will have crews representing the USA, UK, New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, and New Caledonia as well as every Australian state.
Spirit Of Mystery At The Sydney Boat Show (Photo by Colin Merry)
Spirit of Mystery Crew Visit Walcon At The Sydney Boat Show (Photo by Colin Merry)
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Spirit of Mystery Crew Sails Sydney Harbor (Photo by Colin Merry)
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Collin Merry Sailing On Spirit of Mystery In Sydney Harbor (Photo courtesy of Colin Merry)
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Sydney Boat Show (Photo by Colin Merry)
Sydney Boat Show (Photo by Colin Merry)
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Inside The Boat Show (Photo by Colin Merry)
Spirit of Mystery at the Sydney Boat Show (Photo by Colin Merry)
Well the boat show here in Sydney has got off to a great start! The weather is sunny and temps. are up into the high teens. With five exhibition halls and a marina full of boats there is plenty to see and drool over. ”Spirit of Mystery” is being really well received with loads of people coming on board for the tour and story of her voyage. We are working hard to try and accommodate all who want to see her.
Jessica Watson's Pink Boat (Photo by Colin Merry)
Next door to us is a very pink yacht indeed! It is a 34′ Sparkman and Stephens. Sixteen year old Jessica Watson will be setting off from Sydney in September in her bid to be the youngest solo circumnavigator. Her route will take her northeast across the equator to Washington Island in the North Pacific, around the notorious Cape Horn, below South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean and up the East coast back home to Sydney. Jessica hopes to return before her 17th birthday. I asked her a few questions whilst being shown around on board.
Why? – The challenge, she has heard the stories and needs to know what it will be like for herself.
Which things are you most looking forward to? – The milestones, the Horn would be great.
What things are you most dreading? – The first storm, other than getting that one behind me not anything really.
What will you miss most? – Friends and family.
How long are you planning for? – 230 days.
What are you taking with you to remind you of friends and family? – Pics, mascots, music and a dancing chicken!
What frustrates you most about societies perception of a youngster taking on what you are about to do? -Not being ready to accept that I can do this. And being classed as a minor on all the forms that have to be signed off.
Colin Merry and Jessica Watson
Jessica came across as a level headed girl who has her sights firmly set on achieving her goal.
Jessica Waston (Photo by Colin Merry)
We at C&A wish her well and will be following her progress. For more information on Jessica log onto www.jessicawatson.com.au
Photo by Daniel Forster, Rolex
Wild Oats XI strode majestically up the Derwent River this morning to beat Skandia by one hour seven minutes and score a record fourth consecutive line honours victory in the Rolex Sydney Hobart after one of the best tactical battles seen at the head of the fleet in the race’s 64-year history.
Lighter winds off the Tasmanian coast in the last 18 hours of the race robbed Wild Oats XI of the chance of beating the race record she set in 2005 at one day 18 hours 40 minutes and ten seconds. The drop in wind strength did give Mark Richards and crew the opportunity to make use of Wild Oats XI’s bigger wardrobe of headsails to catch and pass Skandia, which had led her with better speed and sound tactics for the first 22 hours.
Nearly half the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet, more than 40 boats, are locked in battle this evening, east of Flinders Island, a long way out to sea and battening down the hatches as strong winds continue.
A strong wind warning is current for their field of play, up to 85 miles off the island coast. The forecast until midnight is for north-west winds 15 to 25 knots, reaching 30 knots at times, tending westerly at 15 to 25 knots this evening, with two to three metre seas.
Tomorrow’s forecast for the length of the Tasmanian east coast is for westerly winds 15 to 25 knots, again reaching 30 knots at times.
The second half of the fleet are grouped like a swarm of bees on the Yacht Tracker website, making between six and 10 knots, a network of private competitions. Most will reach Hobart on Tuesday.
On boats like Flying Fish Arctos ingenuity is the order of the day as gear begins to take punishment. They broke both spinnaker poles yesterday and today and have spent fruitful hours refashioning makeshift new ones from jockey poles, which are usually employed keeping spinnaker sheets clear of the shrouds that support the mast on each side of the boat.
Flying Fish Arctos is the flagship yacht in the Flying Fish offshore training fleet and has a crew of Australians, Europeans and Americans aboard.
Geoff Boettcher’s Secret Mens Business 3 from Adelaide is the next yacht due across the Rolex Sydney Hobart finish line, due at 7.30pm this evening.
The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed early predictions of fresh northerly winds over the first two days of the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2008, ensuring the sailors a fast, thoroughly enjoyable ride to Tasmania.
At the traditional Christmas Eve skipper’s briefing Michael Logan, the BOM’s manager, Severe Weather Services, told the competing skippers they can expect to start in a 15 knot north easterly breeze, which will freshen to 20 to 25 knots during the afternoon as they speed down the New South Wales coast under spinnaker.
The fresh northerlies are forecast to hold throughout Saturday and into much of Sunday off the NSW coast, though a soft change on Saturday could see the lead boats encounter lighter winds in Bass Strait.
By Sunday night a major front will move through Bass Strait, producing strong, and possibly gale force westerly winds before they shift to towards the south on Monday.
It will be a tougher race for the smaller boats than the fast frontrunners, which are due into Hobart before Sunday night’s big blow.
