CHANGING TIMES

The big guns took the headlines in the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, but behind them an epic race was brewing that heralded a new fleet on the horizon, says ROB KOTHE

- ROB KOTHE

In 1964, when Bob Dylan wrote the words for his third studio album’s title song The Times They Are A-Changin’, he was thinking of the social and political upheaval of the time. But the same song came to mind at the start of the 75th Rolex Sydney Hobart on Boxing Day 2019.

The world is a very different place to when Captain John Illingworth of the British Navy led the first Sydney Hobart fleet on Boxing Day 1945. Back in the day, sailors gathering at Sydney’s Cruising Yacht Club, ahead of the 628nm race south, debated whether they would face one or three ‘southerly busters’. Historically, it has been an upwind race with winds of 30 to 50 knots in those frontal systems.

Now, with burning Australia making headlines around the world, we truly know the world has changed, and so has this iconic bluewater classic. Rather than having even one cold front, this 75th race had two weak ‘troughs’ – transition periods of little or no wind – one before the fleet leaders headed into the Bass Strait and another as the fleet handicap favourites approached Tasman Light. In both those transitions, it was just a few hours before the winds went northerly again – another downwind race.

Although 157 boats started, once again the TV audience of millions worldwide saw the images of the only race they ever know, the line honours competition between five 100-footers.

So, to 26 December 2019, Sydney Harbour. The bushfire smoke has temporarily cleared with a 12kt northeasterly sea breeze. From the 1pm gun, Christian Beck’s InfoTrack (the Juan-K 100-footer) won the start.

She led the fleet around the seaward mark by almost two minutes, the third time she had won the race out of the Heads, having taken boasting rights in 2015 and 2016 as Investec Loyal.