Brian
Griffin
(inducted 2008)
I grew up along the South West coast of Ireland. When I moved to the UK I completed many offshore race miles. The highlight being the 2003 Fastnet race that had something for everyone ' 4 seasons in one day ' becalmed at day , howling westerly at night, summer sunshine and world famous ‘sideways’ Irish rain.
I moved to Sydney Australia in 2004 and had the opportunity to complete in several off shore races with the highlights being the 2004 and 2006 Sydney to Hobart ocean races:
2004
DHL Volvo 60 (formally EF Language) we came 13th over the line
2006 CMC Markets Volvo 60 (formally Djuice Dragon) we came 13th (again) over the
line
Nothing prepares you for Bass Straights whether it be day or night, you can feel and see the power of the ocean.
During the 2004 race, over 50% of the fleet retired , it was cold , wet , windy (Windex blow off) with a big rolling ocean , there was not a lot of tactical sail changes it was survival mode, we completing over 70% of the race under storm sails.
The 2006 race had a similar pre race forecast then the 2004 race, I remember at the weather briefing seeing gloomy faces as tough running conditions were forecast. During the first 24 hours two of the race favorites’, Maximus and ABN AMRO had retired with broken masts and one yacht had sank. Lucky all hands were safe.
Peter Goldsworthy our skipper reported, "Our tactics at the start of the race were to head offshore and pick up some extra horsepower courtesy of the Eastern Australia current."
"Our weather router warned that we would also encounter larger waves as a result of this strategy, but we felt that the performance gains would outweigh the rather unpleasant and bumpy ride." "That bumpy ride turned out to be more than we bargained for as the boat encountered a rogue wave about 40nm off the coast of Nowra. The boat dropped off this unexpected monster with a thud, the impact causing us to lose all our instrumentation and navigation systems."
We had
to work though the night to make running repairs and regained the use of the
majority of the instruments but had to resort to paper charts and hand held
compass to navigate to the finish line in Hobart. I remember vividly the finish
line, what an experience.