Time penalty leads to historic Sydney to Hobart win
Ethan James |
A female skipper has won overall Sydney to Hobart honours for the first time after a post-race time penalty for breaking sailing rules flipped the top two standings.
French pair, Michel Quintin and Yann Rigal, were on Wednesday knocked off top spot after being spotted on video with an incorrect sail configuration with the finish line in sight.
Their yacht BNC copped a time penalty of one hour and five minutes, just enough for second-placed Min River to jump to the top of the leader board.
“I never dreamed of winning it,” Min River skipper Jiang Lin, who co-skippered with Alexis Loison, said.
“My ambition … was that if I can win the division, that would be nice. That was my goal.”
In the event’s 80th edition, it is also the first time a double-handed yacht, a craft sailed by just two people, has won overall honours.
NSW-based Min River lodged a protest against BNC on Tuesday afternoon after both yachts finished when other competitors pointed out the rule breach on video.
Their protest was ultimately withdrawn when BNC conceded they broke the rules, leaving their penalty fate in the hands of an international jury.
“It’s not like they did something against my boat, but something that would have an effect on the whole fleet,” Lin said.
“We thought that was quite important. It’s clear, black and white … yes or no.”
Quintin said at the time they weren’t aware of the breach, which related to the use of a pole to secure the spinnaker, and they respected the decision of the jury.
The pole was used so they could be freed up to clean the boat in preparation for arriving at the end of the 628-nautical mile race in Hobart, Rigal said.
He estimated BNC only gained an extra three to five minutes of speed with the sail set-up, but it was difficult to estimate in variable winds.
Race committee chair Lee Goddard said the jury determined the severity of the penalty to be appropriate and that “any possible performance gains were accounted for”.
“They’ve used their spinnaker in an inappropriate way. They did not deliberately do it,” he said.
“But it was photographed with two nautical miles to go.
“I’m sure for them (BNC) it’s very disappointing … I’m not sure I’d describe it (the overall result) as disappointing. The rules are the rules.”
BNC had held top spot by 54 minutes on handicap time.
It’s not the first time a yacht has missed out on top honours after a protest – in 2017 Wild Oats XI lost line honours after being penalised an hour for being involved in a near collision.
“The decision was difficult to listen (to). But it’s sport, it’s life,” Quintin, a former French Olympic windsurfer, said.
“We thought we could manage to have a smaller penalty, but that’s their choice.
“We lose the race for just nothing … but we (still) feel like we did something really special.”
Min River, one of the smaller boats in the fleet at 33ft, was named by Lin after the river in China which flows through the province where her parents lived.
She hoped her performance could inspire other women.
“Look at me, if I can do it, surely you can,” she said.
The result was bittersweet for Loison, who is close friends with Rigal, as the pair spent Christmas together with their families. He also once sailed on BNC.
“For me it’s not very nice but it’s a jury decision. That’s life,” he said.
Three yachts remained at sea on Wednesday at 1pm AEDT, with NSW 39-footer Millennium Falcon bringing up the tail.
More than a quarter of the starting fleet of 128 yachts were forced to retire in brutal early upwind sailing.
Master Lock Comanche claimed line honours after holding off two fellow supermaxis in a dogfight off Tasmania’s east coast.
AAP
