Sailing Away and the Sydney to Hobart

After living on one of the world's great harbors watching the boats sail by for almost a year, I (Chris here) couldn't resist the temptation any longer.  From 'twilight' racing with work colleagues in Melbourne to races in Sydney Harbor to following the lead up to the Sydney to Hobart race (more on that below), I've fallen for sailing hook, line, and sinker (is it okay to mix fishing analogies with sailing?).  The kids have happily followed suit with Jessica Watson (youngest girl to sail around the world solo) especially being Mia's inspiration with her book and with seeing her sailing around in her pink boat during racing practice.

After finding an enthusiastic sailing co-conspirator in another Chapel Hill expat (who actually had sailing experience, unlike me), we have now adding sailing to our list of weekend and holiday activities.

This area is called Pittwater which is around 20 miles north of Sydney and where the boat is for December and January

In true Aussie style that is a propane barbie on the back of the boat

Boxing Day (December 26th) is the biggest day on the Aussie sailing calendar with the start of one of the world's most famous sailboat races, the Sydney to Hobart.  Hobart, Tasmania is 628 miles almost due south of Sydney on a route which often subjects the boats to 40+ knot winds whipping up from the Southern Ocean .  Thanks to a generous invitation from our neighbors, we got to watch the race start from a great restaurant right above the starting line.

The Tea Room at Gunners' Barracks is a posh restaurant inside the 1872 stone building where the gunners protecting
Sydney Harbour lived.  Sam loved wandering through the tunnels connecting this to the gun placements

The massive 100 foot boat in front is Wild Oats XI which is the first to Hobart most years. It has a crew of twenty.
The pink and gray boat just behind it is Jessica Watson's 38 foot boat with the youngest Hobart crew ever (average age 19)

Investec Loyal is Wild Oats's top competitor (it's also about 100 feet long)

There are two start lines with the largest 35 boats in front (they're faster) and the smaller 53 boats a few hundred meters behind.  They race the same distance because the big boats go farther before turning out of the harbor

Wild Oats XI and Loyal were on a collision course in the first hundred meters with WOXI having to turn again to avoid it

That enabled Loyal to get an early lead here but Wild Oats XI passed her within half a mile

Jessica Watson's boat, Ella Bache Another Challenge

As the boats rounded South Head (southern side of entrance to Sydney Harbour), WOXI was in front

That's North Head in the distance

Once the boats reached the Pacific and turned south, they all put up their massive spinnaker sails.
This is Wild Oats XI. Notice how small the helicopter looks compared to the sail

The wind was about 18 knots (19 miles per hour) in these pictures coming from the north.  Just after dark
the boats got hit by 35 knot winds coming from the south in one Sydney's crazy southerlies