Pittwater Life December 2020 Issue

No lull in Hobart
fleet preparations
MAIDEN VOYAGE:
Antony Hawke
experienced the
Sydney To Hobart
for the first time
aboard Pretty
Woman in 2019.
What’s it like to experience the Sydney To Hobart for the first time? Story by Rosamund Burton
News
There’s been speculation
as to whether this year’s
Rolex Sydney Hobart
Yacht Race would go ahead
due to COVID-19, but 100
boats have entered, and once
again the crews are getting
ready for the sail south.
Newport’s Antony Hawke
competed in his first Sydney
Hobart Race last year, as the
bowman on the RPAYC Farr
45, Pretty Woman. When I met
the now 20-year-old beforehand
he had no idea what to
expect of what is regarded as
one of the world’s most gruelling
offshore races.
Antony had experienced
strong breezes during the
Cabbage Tree Island Race,
when the blustery conditions
inflicted gear damage on a
number of boats, including
Wild Oats XI.
“We saw a man overboard
just out of Sydney Heads. A radio
call asked boats to go back
and assist, but by the time
we turned around he’d been
picked up,” he explained.
Antony is studying mechanical
and metatronic engineering
at UTS, and works parttime
for Contender Sailcloth in
Mona Vale. He has sailed since
the age of seven, but only did
his first offshore race earlier
in 2019.
In preparation for the
Sydney to Hobart, Antony
acquired his HF Radio Licence,
which allows him to operate
both an HF and VHF radio,
and completed the two-day
Sea Safety Survival Course,
training him for a multitude
of emergency scenarios,
including how to operate personal
floatation devices, and
not only how to launch and get
into a life raft, but also how to
right an inverted one. When
asked if he was apprehensive
about the race he replied: “It’s
better not to think about it too
much and just go for it.”
I caught up with him a few
days after the race and he told
me the toughest moment was
getting out of his bunk at 1am
to go on watch. At times, he
was so tired that he dozed off
while sitting on the rail.
CELEBRATIONS: Antony Hawke with fellow Hobart first-timers and Pretty
Woman crew members Alice Tarnawski (left) and Jess Angus.
“Being the only bowman if
something needed to be done
I did it, even if I was off watch
and in my bunk, so I ended up
sleeping in wet weather gear
most of the time.”
“The second night we had
between 25 and 30 knots of
breeze. We were doing 15
knots down the waves, and the
steerers were swapping every
30 minutes.“
But he recounts the most
tense times were when there
wasn’t much breeze. For example,
the boat reached Cape
Raoul with its stunning organ
pipes, and there were 20 boats
stationary in the glassy water,
and Pretty Woman joined the
pack – and remained there
long after most of the other
boats found breeze.
Antony was barefoot for
most of the race because his
sneakers got wet soon after
the start, and the sea boots he
had borrowed were far too big.
“I didn’t wear them until we
reached the coast of Tasmania
and there was this solid sea
fog all around us… and it was
fricking freezing.”
Because of being a little
nervous and also concentrating
on sailing, he wasn’t really
aware of the huge spectator
fleet and the Boxing Day
crowds on the Sydney Harbour
foreshore, but he says: “It was
PHOTO: Jane Evans.
quite something coming into
Constitution Dock at the finish
and everyone cheering.”
He knows that the 2019
Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht
Race had benign weather
conditions, but competing in
the race is still an enormous
achievement, and he had to
prepare for the worst.
He is doing this year’s race
again as bowman on Pretty
Woman, but this time he
doesn’t know what to expect
because of COVID-19. Every
boat will have a COVID safety
plan, which will adhere the
NSW Health guidelines. It
could require the temperature
or other testing of crew members
before the start, and will
likely require regularly wiping
down and sanitising of down
below during the race.
Vice Commodore of the
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia,
Noel Cornish AM, says
that all interactions between
the skippers and the sailing
office staff are being conducted
on Zoom. On Boxing
Day morning, when the club
is usually crammed with crew
and their families and friends,
only crew members will be allowed
in until about 10.30am
when most of the yachts leave
the dock. Similarly the race
village at Hobart’s Constitution
Dock will have limited
numbers.
But this isn’t dampening the
enthusiasm of yachties, and
for the first time in its 76-year
history, the Sydney to Hobart
has a two-handed division.
“It’s a growing area of the
sport,” Noel Cornish explains,
“and at this stage there are 16
boats entered.”
One of those is the Pittwater’s
Pekljus, owned by
74-year-old David Suttie who
is heading south with his
40-year-old son Robert. They
have spent the year setting up
Pekljus.
“We’ve got three forestays,”
David Suttie says, “furling
headsails and spinnakers with
socks. But we’ll play it safe. If
there’s an intense low pressure
system coming through,
we’ll probably pull in.”
Sailing two-handed means
that they’ll take turns to
snatch some sleep when they
can. However, they’re well set
up, and says Suttie: “We’ve got
half a chance of going pretty
well. It’s a quick boat if it’s a
reaching race.”
News
26 DECEMBER 2020
The Local Voice Since 1991
The Local Voice Since 1991
DECEMBER 2020 27