It was good to see that some fuss was made of the real winner of the 2008 Sydney-Hobart yacht race. By winner, of course, I mean the overall handicap winner, Quest.
The boat that got there first was not a yacht. It was a motor boat. What do I mean by this? In order to manage their canting keel a number of yachts, including the line honours ‘winner’, Wild Oats XI, have to keep their motors running day and night. No wonder the interiors are bereft of creature comforts when they have to carry so much fuel to feed their engines.
Maybe I’ve missed something, but I thought that a yacht race was for vessels that only used wind power to reach their destination. Without an engine to keep the hydraulics under pressure, these yachts would be unable to function. Some even carry button-controlled winches.
For safety reasons, however, I’m not against the motor being run for an hour two or three times a day to keep the batteries charged up. And it pulls the refrigeration down.
I’ve written more about yachts and canting keels.
