Ready for Running to Hobart

After a few Christmas festivities and a day-before-the-race sail, the Joy Ride team is ready for the start of the Sydney Hobart Race on Boxing Day (Aussie time) which will be tomorrow around 5 pm Salish Sea time.

The Joy Ride crew.

“There’s a lot of bigger faster boats in this fleet,” says owner John Murkowski, “a lot of TP 52s.” Joy Ride‘s 40 or so boat ORC class is made up of very similar size boats. “There’s a J/122 and a J/133 and a bunch of Beneteaus.” There are approximately 9 boats that Joy Ride rates close to, and certainly that will form the race within a race.

Crew member John Fox expects a beat of Sydney Harbor and past Sydney Heads, “then a building breeze with the chute up.” Sailish’s Bruce Hedrick has been chipping in with his thoughts via email, and he routing software predicts Joy Ride will sail the 628 mile course in 3 days, 10 hours. It should be mostly downwind for the race.

Over the 3-4 weeks Joy Ride has been in Sydney, severe weather has been rolling through, even throwing huge hailstones at times.

Testing the storm sails.

I asked about the dock chatter about the big boats, and the odds-makers have Comanche favored for elapsed time and Ichi Ban (again) favored for corrected time honors. Note the term “odds-makers.” Yes folk, there’s betting. And Murkowski bought some tickets (betting on Joy Ride) and distributed tickets to the crew. So, if they win, they win.

After I wrote an initial post on the event, Seattle rigger Chris Tutmark brought it to my attention that there was another U.S. entry, a Cookson 50 named Privateer. We’ll be watching that boat as well. It looks to be a formidable entry with Charlie Enright of Volvo Race fame on the crew. Thanks, Chris! If anybody else sees anything of note in the entry list, results or during the course of the race, please let me know.

Crew member Maaike Pen was photographed by Andrea Francolini who made a gallery of women participating in the race.

We’ll be watching closely tomorrow and during the race, and this time we can look past the eternal Comanche Vs Wild Oats XI struggle and tune in to one of our own!

4 thoughts on “Ready for Running to Hobart

  • December 25, 2018 at 12:22 pm
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    What an experience they’re having. In 1996 10 of us from the crews of PANGAEA and SKOOKUMCHUCK did the preceding Telstra series of offshore races and the Sydney Hobart on a chartered boat DI HARD (had sailed Admiral’s Cup for Papua New Guinea). We were treated royally by the Aussie’s, the Cruising Club of Australia and the media. We had a ‘Southern Buster’ the first night out but survived, finished (altho there were many retirements) in the upper third and we all still revel in the experience of our lives!! We’ll be watching and cheering for them!!
    Mac Madenwald, Wendy Gray, Byron Skubi, Ron Smith, Rick Almberg, Lisa Nielsen, Bob Morrow, Matt Ramerman, Tom More, Lindsay Granger

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    • December 25, 2018 at 1:33 pm
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      What a great memory! Any photos from the experience to share with the rest of us!

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      • December 26, 2018 at 9:02 am
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        Yes, lots of photos, but from a bygone era…video camera and 35mm slides!

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        • December 26, 2018 at 9:11 am
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          I too am from a bygone era, (more bygone than that!!) I would love to post something on your experience. I’ll email you and we can set it up.

          Reply

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