I don't believe the people in this race were not prepared, nor the boats
in poor condition. The crews were just exhausted, and in fear for their
lives.

Further reading: Sydney to Hobart, 1998.

* Justin.

From what I read, most of the deaths happened due to abandoning the
boats. Maybe if they had stayed with the boat.... ?


Fastnet Disaster of 1979

Interview with Bill Burrows, Chief Engineer Royal Navy Lifeboat
Institution. Retrieved three disabled sailboats in a 21 hour rescue
during the fatal 1979 Fastnet Storm.

“… Look, you get 300 Yachats in poor weather and you’re going to have
some trouble, almost certainly. But the majority of the trouble was
hysteria created by the situation and by inexperienced crews. And that
it was. They were blaming rudders and such, but none of those rudders
would have snapped if they had put drogues out and storm jibs and run
before the weather. They were under bare poles, most of them, and they
were getting up on the seas. And the seas were about 45 feet. Not what
we around here call big.

They got up on these seas and they were running. When the boats were
starting to broach, what the helmsmen were doing was hauling on the
rudders to stop them from broaching. They were putting too much bloody
strain on the rudders, and they had to go.

Yes, I know they were racing sailors, not cruising men, but that’s no
excuse. We went out that night and we passed a little old hooker sort
of thing with a family of kids aboard and they were going away to
Ireland with no trouble at all….”

(The Yacht, April 1987)


What was the most successful design in the history of Sydney to
Hobart?

Bob