The 2017 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race saw Wild Oats XI stripped of her record breaking line honours victory because of an infringement, with LDV Comanche, shortly after race start. To me it seemed important for folks to know how the yacht, Wild Oats XI, felt about the race result. The ghost will hang around until the race record is broken again; I wonder how many years that will be?
That's racing for you. The infringement is pretty clear in the video. With all the cameras they could have been in no doubt. They made the decision to keep going. Wrong call. I think it was a commercial decision based on the need to keep Channel 7s boat in the picture for the TV coverage.f
What is that ****.
Who made it.
I see that clip not not contain the footage where someone in the middle of the boat says "that's a problem"
Everyone makes mistakes. The real screw up was not wandering off course a little and making some penalty turns.
It was total shambles. Our jaws dropped to the floor.
The decision to execute that turn was idiotic if not criminal.
There is no excuse for it, whatsoever.
The second decision not to execute the obviously necessary penalty turns was stupid as well as arrogant beyond belief and the eventual punishment well deserved!
If the reason - as Yara suggested - was "commercial" it would cast a very large and very black shadow over us humans and our way of thinking.
(TV generally and Channel 7 especially sux big time, anyway!)
I was wondering how she felt when they took the chainsaw to her prior to the race
Regards Don
modular 100 foot Trailer Sailor ....... people waiting on the boat ramp would be really crapped off !
Select to expand quotelydia said..
Who cares there are just cheats.
Arrogant cheats
Cheats know far better than to pull stunts like that in plain sight. Especially during a race like the sydney to hobart, where the race out of the heads generally has little relevance to the overall race. Its just a show for the cameras.
It was either a publicity stunt, or the helmsman simply miscalculated the turn whilst trying to manoeuvre to a position to either lay close cover, or be able to lee bow their closest rival. Perhaps a little bit of both.
Select to expand quotelydia said..
Who cares there are just cheats.
Arrogant cheats
I agree. They chose to keep going rather than do the penalty turns which would have been good sportsmanship. Wanna win the Sydney to Hobart and look good? Buy the longest water line length boat or better cut one in half and make it longer, then dont make any basic mistakes. They dont impress me. Sad the public dont realise and adulate the wrong boat.
I think a lot of these comments are pretty harsh.
In racing if you think that you have not infringed then you do not do the turns and take it to the room. There is nothing cheating about that at all. That is racing. Its not cheating and its definitely not criminal.
Its obvious now (and those who saw the live camera footage at the time) that they did infringe. So the correct call was made by the jury. No one here was on the boat and had the boats POV. If it was me, knowing that its 628 miles to the finish line, I would have done the turns anyway just in case, but I am not on WOXI as i am sure there is a f'*load of pressure there.
That is a racing 'incident' nothing else (maybe a serious f*ck up). I highly doubt that being in the camera shot would have factored into their thinking at all. Being the channel 7 boat they would have got plenty of camera time doing their turns anyway, and would have made for a much more interesting finish.
I really like the song Jane has written and performed the incident simply provided a story to put to music ...well done Jane.
Select to expand quotedralyagmas said..
I think a lot of these comments are pretty harsh.
In racing if you think that you have not infringed then you do not do the turns and take it to the room. There is nothing cheating about that at all. That is racing. Its not cheating and its definitely not criminal.
Its obvious now (and those who saw the live camera footage at the time) that they did infringe. So the correct call was made by the jury. No one here was on the boat and had the boats POV. If it was me, knowing that its 628 miles to the finish line, I would have done the turns anyway just in case, but I am not on WOXI as i am sure there is a f'*load of pressure there.
That is a racing 'incident' nothing else (maybe a serious f*ck up). I highly doubt that being in the camera shot would have factored into their thinking at all. Being the channel 7 boat they would have got plenty of camera time doing their turns anyway, and would have made for a much more interesting finish.
Exactly.
The POV on wild oats may have been quite different to the obvious one the camera shows. Tight manoeuvring is a part of racing.
When you see both of the boats in the flesh they are big boats to be racing at close quarters and if they got it wrong it would be a bit of a mess
Watching the finish from the shore at South Arm, Comanche had a decent lead (probably 5 minutes) over Wild Oates until the wind died and they both stopped and then the conditions suited wild Oates to allow them to pass and draw away
If the breeze had continued up the Derwent i don't think that Wild Oates would have caught Commanche
Regards Don
Select to expand quotemadmission said..
I really like the song Jane has written and performed the incident simply provided a story to put to music ...well done Jane.
Hi Madmission,
Glad you liked the song.
You hit the nail of the head with "the incident simply provided a story to put to music".
Several of the tunes on my "Songs in the Key of Sea" album are true incidents that simply provided a story to put to music, eg Seaflight, Koolama, Shackleton. Even "Sandy Bay Shore" is based on true events but with fictional characters. In fact all the songs on the album are inspired by real maritime events or sailors. You may also like some of the other tunes.
members.iinet.net.au/~laws/songs%20in%20the%20key%20of%20sea.html
Thank you
Jane
They had a channel 7 film crew on board, and/or enough internet connectivity to get a replay of the event that we all saw.
Not doing so is just arrogance.
Select to expand quoteAgent nods said..
They had a channel 7 film crew on board, and/or enough internet connectivity to get a replay of the event that we all saw.
Not doing so is just arrogance.
That would be outside assistance and illegal under RRS
