In the best of years, the grueling 628-nautical-mile offshore thrash known as the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race is a testament to the high pain threshold and questionable sanity of your basic Australian yachtsman. The most recent running, which set off December 26—Boxing Day—was the 80th annual edition, and the forecast was even more ominous than usual.
Powerful southerly winds conspiring with the quick, opposing East Australia Current (think Southern Hemisphere Gulf Stream) would whip up enormous and messy seas, particularly in the first 24 hours. The day before the start, a race official laid out the reality in stark terms: “It’s going to be cold, wet and bumpy. People will get seasick.”
As a Hobart race veteran, I’d seen the movie before. Still, I prepared to set off once again with my nerves more jangled and frayed than I remembered. That’s because, though I have tens of thousands of offshore miles in my wake, not one had been in a powerboat. This time, I’d be tackling the course in a Palm Beach 65 sedan cruiser called Palm Beach XII.
I was asked to join the crew by a longtime colleague in marine magazines, George Sass Jr. (a former editor at Yachting), now on the marketing team for Palm Beach Motor Yachts. It’s a company that Australian sailor Mark Richards founded. Richards would set sail for the Hobart race in his revamped 100-footer, Palm Beach XI. The plan was for Palm Beach XII to shadow the fleet and upload updates from the racecourse.
When George invited me aboard—and escape a cold New England winter back home—I was all in. Plus, PBXII’s skipper, David “Tower” Sampson (so nicknamed for his 6-foot-4-inch frame), was a fellow offshore sailor and kindred spirit. How bad could it be?
The answer came soon enough: very bad indeed.
Under slate-gray skies and, for an Australian summer day, an unseasonable 60ish degrees, the race start in Sydney Harbour was the usual madhouse, with hundreds of spectator boats following the fleet and a bevy of helicopters whirling overhead. That said, it was actually rather pleasant aboard Palm Beach XII until we exited the Heads at the mouth of the harbor and turned south with the racers. At which stage, as the Aussies like to say, it was all on for young and old.
The seas were ridiculous, short and sharp, measuring a good 10 to 12 feet. The pounding was unlike anything I’d previously experienced. Walking was impossible. The windshield wipers could not keep up with the torrent. Waves swept the entire length of the yacht’s 65 feet. It was difficult to say whether we were on a boat or a submarine.
Still, at 1,700 rpm and holding a course inshore of the race boats for current relief, we were ticking right along at 17 knots. That performance was impressive.
After about five hours, even Tower had seen enough. Luckily, there was an easy off ramp: the sheltered waters of Jervis Bay. Such sweet relief. At that juncture, the plan was to grab a few hours of sleep and bail out back to Sydney. At 0600 on day two, though, Tower reassessed the situation. Back we went, southbound, into the fray.
This time, we managed seven jarring hours and rolled into the fishing town of Eden, another 125 miles down the track. Eden had a pub and a fuel truck—both equally welcome—so we took on a few pints of lager and about 300 gallons of diesel to top up the tank. At this point, there was no turning back. After a brief snooze, at 0100 on day three, we were off again. Hobart was still some 400 miles away.
Tower was convinced that at the midway point, the wind would swing north, in our favor. But the hours before dawn were dark indeed. Bass Strait is the rather notorious hundred miles of open water between mainland Oz and the island of Tasmania, and it was a roiled mess. It’s hard to describe the motion in nautical terms, but it was sort of like being blindfolded in a bar fight. Can a seaway have potholes? I now believe it can.
Tower proved to be a seer, and when the morning turned to afternoon, the norther at last arrived. The sun shone. The whitecaps vanished. The waves flattened. Schools of dolphins arrived, accompanied by swarms of seabirds. The coast of “Tassie” was wild, cragged and beautiful. All that had preceded it seemed like an awful dream.
The best part of the whole trip happened at sunset, as we passed through the dramatic spires of the rocky outcroppings of Organ Pipes National Park. The light was fantastic. Tower launched a drone and captured some great images. All’s well that ends well, right?
We made our way up the Derwent River and into the blinking lights of downtown Hobart. Unfortunately, we never did catch Palm Beach XI on the racecourse—it was the fifth boat to finish, a good result and a solid sea trial after modifications—but when we tied up alongside, the party was still raging. That first beer tasted like victory.
Regarding my own offshore sailing career, I’ve always said that I love a boat that’s better than I am. Aboard Palm Beach XII, which used equal parts grace and power to handle everything the ocean dished up, that was certainly the case.
The Sailing CEO
Mark Richards is an Aussie sailor whose 25-year ocean-racing career has included multiple America’s Cup campaigns and several victories in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. He has parlayed his vast nautical expertise into his current role as chief designer and CEO of Grand Banks Yachts and Palm Beach Motor Yachts.
The Merger
Palm Beach Motor Yachts launched in a factory on the beach in the estuary called Pittwater, north of Sydney where founder Mark Richards was raised. The yard originally built racing sailboats before pivoting into high-end power cruisers. In 2014, Palm Beach Motor Yachts and Grand Banks Yachts merged and today, both are manufactured in a recently expanded facility in Malaysia.
A New Base in Newport
Along with its full-service facility in Stuart, Florida, Grand Banks and Palm Beach recently acquired the former Casey’s Marina, a 10,000-square-foot property on Spring Wharf in the center of downtown Newport, Rhode Island. The property will include reserved berths, haul-out capability, lounges and guest accommodations.
Take the next step: palmbeachmotoryachts.com
