Young salts conquer high seas

By Andy Matthews

How a student team achieved its dream in the classic Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

A University of Melbourne student team sailed its 38-foot yacht Another Challenge to an outstanding finish in the recent 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Team Melbourne Uni � the race's youngest ever and first all-student crew � arrived in Hobart during the early hours of 31 December, third in its division.

Another Challenge was one of only 56 contenders in a field of 116 to finish � wild weather and monstrous seas forcing more than half the fleet to retire. The highest place the team held was second overall, and first in its class � and that was after the roughest weather had passed.

Being then about 36 hours from the finish they had high hopes of seizing a race-winning position, but it was not to be. Team Melbourne Uni's nevertheless impressive achievement capped more than 18 months of training and a fundraising program which drew support worth $100,000 in cash and $200,000 in kind from sponsors, including the University.

Andy Matthews, the bowman on Another Challenge, outlines here how Team Melbourne Uni's Sydney�Hobart project began and reflects on some of the challenges faced and ultimately met. Skipper Chris Lewin, in another article (see below: Foresight, tactics and timing) notes highlights of the team's performance and how its preparation for the race paid off in handling the extreme weather conditions.

The most amazing thing about doing the Sydney to Hobart yacht race is how quickly you find yourself wanting to do it again. It doesn't hit you straight away of course � for a while your mind is still in survival mode.

Stepping off the boat in Hobart after a race that tested every element of your ability, especially patience in the final four hours, travelling up the Derwent River in no wind at all, you find it hard to manage much more than hugging as many people as possible. Ensuring that you're not still wearing full wet weather gear when you fall asleep from exhaustion about three minutes later is too much of a trial.

A couple of days later however, all you can think is of that dream kite run we had on that first night, the other boats only visible as points of light dotted around the horizon, when everyone on the team had no other thought than how to make the most of every breeze and every extra puff of wind.

How we overtook boat after boat and still looked to those in front and thought "Right, who's next?" Then you skip straight to the memory of the hot chocolate thrust into your hands stepping onto the pier and you say to yourself � "That wasn't so bad".

When I force myself to remember all that went on in between, however, things look a little different. Listening to Jono yelling the wind speeds as they climbed above 50 knots in 10-metre waves, before the wind vane blew off the top of the mast and we were left to guess how much higher it would have gone.

The shock of looking into Iris' eyes as she lay unconscious on the deck, passed out from hypothermia. The pain of sitting in the Derwent, looking at a boat speed of 0.00 knots only 50 metres from the finish line.

I recall all this and wonder why the bloody hell I did the race in the first place. And then I remember how well everyone dealt with these situations.

How, even when we couldn't be sure how the wind was changing we still did four sail changes in an hour, how quickly we got Iris below and started warming her up, and how we still made it across the line despite it all.

The real story of the Melbourne University Sydney Hobart attempt lies behind all these things, in the hours and hours of training for those sail changes, in the first aid and sea survival courses, and the passion and commitment of our team that wouldn't let us give up.

Growing up, I really only knew of the Sydney to Hobart as a finish. Living in Hobart the �family would often go to watch the leading boats coming up the river (at least for those fortunate enough to arrive in daylight), then, in the 1998 race, six sailors lost their lives, and suddenly I saw just how difficult a race it could be, and asked myself why would you do that to yourself?

After that everyone knew about the race, but in truth I didn't think of it much until 2003. That was the year Chris Lewin decided he wanted to enter with a student team, and I happened to be the first person he told.

Chris lived down the corridor from me at Trinity College, and he was often in my room looking for food. When he suggested it the idea sounded fanciful, even a little mad. Nevertheless, I offered to help in any way I could and, to my surprise, Chris said that there might be a place for me on the team.

The first official meeting of Team Melbourne Uni (as it was to become � the initial title was MUSH, or Melbourne Uni Sydney Hobart) took place under the library at Trinity College.

Most of us there were people whom Chris had known through the University sailing club, of which he was captain. Everyone there had been asked along by Chris on the basis of two things, one being sailing experience, the other what benefits each person's personality would bring to the dynamic of the team.

Because we were embarking on an 18-month journey where we could learn a lot about sailing, emphasis was placed at this stage on building a team that could work together over such a long period. In the end, however, I think only four of the students at that meeting remained in the team.

Pretty soon after that meeting the team started training on a 30-foot yacht named Pacesetter, moored down at St Kilda. Chris had spent 2002 racing Pacesetter with the owner, Chester Cairns, and his crew, and had somehow managed to convince Chester to loan the boat to us, free of charge, for an indefinite period of time.

As a training boat, we could not have asked for a much better deal. Unfortunately I fear we did not always treat her with the respect she deserved, and the boat aged considerably as we continually pushed to get more and more speed out of her every week.

The first day the team sailed in Pacesetter Port Phillip Bay was a millpond, and the two most senior members of the team went for a swim. For those of us with little sailing experience, it was a rather gentle introduction to the sport. After that, however, things got serious.

For the remainder of 2003 we were doing up to four sailing trainings a week, while in the background huge works were getting underway trying to set us up with a sponsor, get the team into the media, and do all that could be done to have the best prepared team on race day. More than 50 students gave up their time and stuck their necks out, calling companies, writing �letters, doing the hard sell for the team.

The sailing team itself had grand plans; we had hoped to do the Melbourne-Stanley race in November 2003, but realising we were clearly not ready we passed that one over. Over the next year we were forced to 'get real' a number of times, but at least we were setting our sights high.

The summer of 2003�2004 was a crazy time. Three sailors and the team sponsorship manager were living in the one house with only three bedrooms. We wrote more letters, called more companies, walked the streets talking to small businesses, and worked every connection we could think of to try and get sponsors to take us seriously.

Time and again we were frustrated, and all the while the trainings continued. In January 2004 we got our first results, taking out first in a number of races in Geelong race week. This payoff was a huge boost for everyone, even though in the scheme of things it meant very little.

The first half of 2004 was tumultuous for the team. We secured funding from the University, finally giving us some certainty that we would actually be able to enter the Sydney�Hobart; a number of new team members were added, increasing vastly the expertise of the team; and we secured the yacht which we would enter in the race.

The yacht, Another Challenge, had already done two Sydney�Hobarts, and was well set up for the race. Thanks to a bit of good luck, and support from leading international sailor Lou Abrahams and Sydney Yachts, we managed to secure Another Challenge for a period of four months surrounding the race, paying a small percentage of what a conventional charter fee would have been.

Around then we also began to receive professional team psychology training from a company called Human Performance Specialists, and Hunter Dean & Edwin Konijn who had decided to sponsor the campaign. This consisted of both individual and group sessions on a regular basis, and both were hugely beneficial.

Everyone on the team became aware of their responsibility for looking after the other team members � and we gained the skills to do so. This was crucial for the team's success, especially out at sea when all we had was each other.

December was incredibly surreal, training out of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (the host club) in Sydney, with media crews buzzing around everywhere (see panel: Student sailors capture media interest).

By the end of 2004, with much freshly gained experience under our belts, and through the support of the University, Channel Seven, and Hamilton Island, we were able to make it to the start � and finish � lines.

Despite all the challenges, I never doubted that we would get to the start line, it just made so much intrinsic sense � it had to happen.

Recipe for a race

Team Melbourne Uni's commitment to its Sydney Hobart program included:

� Five or more training sessions a week (on and off the water) over 18 months;
� Six hours a week of training at night;
� More than 180 hours spent with human performance specialists;
� 15,000 nautical miles sailed as a team in 18 months (Sydney-Hobart is 628 miles)

These included:

� Four return trips Melbourne-Sydney-Melbourne;
� Sailing from Melbourne to Hamilton Island and back;
� A dry-run over the Sydney�Hobart�Sydney course;
� The race (which starts each year on Boxing Day � 26 December). 

The student team:

The race began in fast downwind conditions, and after a disastrous start involving a collision, we headed out of the heads and started catching all the other 38s.

The first night was very intense, everyone aware of the front that was approaching, 
running down the coast and struggling to decide when to gybe so as to hit the coast 
when the strong southerly winds hit. We did extremely well during the first night, 
catching all but two Sydney 38s, and entering Bass Strait in third place in our 
division.

 
Just before hitting Bass Strait, the bad weather hit us. After our experiences during 
our dry run, we knew we could sail fast with our storm sails in (relatively) lighter 
winds of 30-35 knots. As such we decided to change to these sails earlier than 
most yachts, and benefited greatly from it.   
 
Whilst many of our competitors tore sails, or suffered trying to change in difficult 

conditions, we were well prepared and headed confidently into the worsening 

weather. 

At this time we also changed our watch system, with four helmsmen getting slightly more rest, and the other six on board pushing themselves extremely hard, sleeping on the rail much of the time to keep the weight in the right place.

Over the next 48 hours, the commitment of the team and their professionalism really shone through. Sails were changed despite immense fatigue (leading to hallucination amongst many crew members), difficult tactical decisions were made, and extreme seasickness and hypothermia were all confronted � but the entire team kept pushing forward.

One of the crew members spent two hours below repairing a torn headsail.

Coming out of the tougher weather, we pushed far west to take advantage of indications from a weather forecast we received constantly during the race.

We were then second overall, and first in our class. The roughest weather had passed, we were about 36 hours from the finish and in a good position to take advantage of a predicted wind shift (to the south-west). But the wind shift never came. Instead of being in a race winning position, we were pinned against the Tasmanian coast in an unpredictable south-easterly.

As a result, we slipped back to third in our division, and came in during the early hours of 31 December � 25th over the line, and 20th on handicap. Nevertheless, the achievement was incredible, and we'd reached our goals.

Student sailors capture media interest

'Team Melbourne Uni can claim to be the first crew to receive media attention in the lead up to the 2004 Rolex Sydney-Hobart' (The Age, March 2004). Widespread media coverage continued during the team's final preparations for the race.

Channel Seven's sponsorship saw the network fly a crew up from Melbourne to spend four days filming the team's preparations and conducting interviews at Hamilton Island from which we had received last minute support to get us across the start line. This led to eight segments airing on Channel Seven news bulletins around the country.

The Team Melbourne Uni launch at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in December 2004 attracted three television networks, Sydney's metropolitan newspapers and sailing journalists, providing national exposure.

Media activities formed a significant part of the crew's daily routine in December. The off-shoot of their commitment was the promotion of Team Melbourne Uni's sponsor-backed endeavour in publications and programs ranging from Sydney's metropolitan newspapers, national television news bulletins and The Australian Financial Review, to German and Singaporean newspapers, The Sunraysia Daily (Mildura) and sailing websites.