Sydney-Hobart Of Lemmon & Wood, Slags & Pitstops, Ruffcuts & Blasts

by John Curnow on 5 Dec 2014 Whether it is the 60s movie, The Great Race, or Hanna-Barbera’s 17 episode cartoon series that followed, one thing is for certain. Yep. It is time once more for The Wacky Races. (See below for an introduction to the racers.) Now the notion is simple. Build anything you want, and as long as it complies with some rules, you’re in! That those very rules do not yet allow for multi-hulls in this age of outright speed, kind of proves that this really is all a bit wacky anyway. Quod erat demonstrandum, indeed.



Jim and Kristy Clark have bought Comanche down for her maiden ocean race. Of course that most Australians would know Kristy by her maiden name, Hinze, is kind of ironic. That Jim and a certain Neville Crichton are good pals, and that the last time ‘Croaky’ showed up to The Wacky Races he bought an exceedingly well-prepared Alfa Romeo II with him, is much less ironic and far more ominous.

Alfa broke Wild Oats XI’s stranglehold and running streak on Australia’s great blue water event that year, which was the whole point. Note that Alfa Romeo II (now Esimit Europa) and Wild Oats XI are both Reichel-Pugh ‘pencils’, where as Comanche is anything but a hefty and broad mallet! Accordingly, not everything is a parallel at all.

The Clarks have well and truly made their point, too. Comanche is a weapon. She is the epitome of radical, the zenith of ‘out there’ and the summit of extreme. When you consider that the French multi and monohull experts in VPLP and Verdier led the design team, it is of little wonder that Comanche is the way she is. Perhaps not pretty in the normal sense, Comanche is possibly best described as, commanding, assertive, imposing and compelling. Yet in a way, she’s also terribly classical, with the six pedestals in the cockpit being a testament to using gorillas and not diesel to get the job done.

The sheer thought of controlling a 1000m2 kite at the end of a bit of string, solely by human power, is almost incomprehensible. For reference’s sake, it’s twice that of a Volvo 70 and four times what a Grand Prix 52 would have flying from the top of the stick! Yes she’s had no expense spared, something that is completely vital at this level of the wacky races, but she also has one other crucial ingredient.

Comanche really does have some of the world’s best crew on board, many of whom have been plucked from the Volvo Ocean Race cycle in order to make this campaign work and they’re all under the stewardship of the masterful, Kenny Read. He could well be the nautical equivalent of another Ken and fellow American, the stupendous Ken Block, but we won’t go there (for now, anyway... However, you can see some of that Ken’s stupendous work here -



We must march on, or for the petrol heads is that drifting? Note the automotive version is way, way different to the nautical one. Hhhmmmm. At any rate, it is now important to talk about the gang of five, which is not a post-punk band with an extra member. We’ve mentioned two already, but the others are Loyal, Ragamuffin 100 and Rio 100. That five of the world’s seven supermaxi racing yachts are here for this 70th birthday celebration is worth highlighting. The new Rambler 100 is not ready and so the eighth member will just have to wait it out.

More than enough is written about Wild Oats XI, and for good reason too. The Swiss Army Knife is beautifully prepared, also has no expense spared on ensuring she has the best of the best equipment on her, and despite her age, is still a glamour puss. Her crew are probably as formidable as her record. Seven-time Lone Honours winner and the only modern age craft to pull the treble – Line Honours, record and Overall win. She, along with her owner and crew are deserving of their accolades and public notoriety.

So then, it is no secret that the Wacky Races are overdue for a blow. No one wants to put the hex on the fleet by talking about that, but do consider this. Since the last major blow everything has moved on, enormously. The front-runners spend such little time out there overall and then equally in anything nasty, as compared to times of yore. That they can apply all of Huey’s venom to boat speed, albeit that masks with wipers become necessary at that point, and then hold on to it, speaks in the same sort of volumes as the nautical miles they dispatch with abandon and the levels of fine mist that pervades everything on board when you’re going at that sort of pace.

The world monohull record now stands at 596.6nm for a 24 hour run. It is not that long ago that one would have needed a large, Jules Verne-esque cat to crack that sort of 24.8kn AVERAGE pace. Think Playstation, if you will... Now it was Torben Grael’s Ericsson 4 that set this record back in 2008 in a Volvo Ocean 70. To some, these magnificent machines were the ocean equivalent of the infamous Group B rally cars of the 80s before the FIA put a line through their page in history, or the original 1.5l turbo F1 gems from Nelson Piquet’s era in Bernie’s version of The Wacky Races. There are three VO70s of different generations listed to run in this 70th edition of the Hanna-Barbera of the sea.

Black Jack is one of the final iterations of these craft. She did a lap of the planet as Telefonica. If you’re wondering why there is such a motoring theme running through this piece, then Black Jack may well explain it. Peter Harburg’s magnificently turned out and brilliantly sailed vessel is named for his idol. That’s none other than the late and oh-so-great Australian, Sir Jack Brabham. So named Black Jack for his famous and omnipresent five o’clock shadow, Jack was seriously tenacious behind the well and deeply dedicated to producing the best F1 cars he could as a designer, engineer and builder, let alone driver. The man could get plenty of revs out of his engines and was also known to give a good rev up to those who required it. He remains a God of sport as well as a three-time World Champion.

In addition to his yachts, Peter also has an incredibly impressive collection of historic open and closed wheeled racing cars, including a lot of Brabham’s own. When a spring clean of your collection yields gems like the 1955 ex-Bib Stillwell Jaguar D-Type and an ex-works Porsche 956 LeMans treasure (Chassis #04), then you know there has to be some real gems left and a few spots created to make way for even better stock.

So from brush ware to commercial property has been a good journey for Peter, but he is also the kind of person who shares and has his collection out on the track as much as possible for all to see and enjoy. He loves competing in the cars he adores, but also allows a few lucky drivers to get behind the wheel and seriously punt these gems around Australia’s tracks. In one way, Mark ‘Squark’ Bradford is the maritime version of that. He gets to have the wheel at the start of the race, but is also empowered to very much be the guiding light in the campaign, which, not surprisingly, is run a lot like a motor racing outfit.

Peter has been around boats since his early days, with his late Father, Clive, calling the start of the Brisbane to Gladstone race for many years. Peter is still an active member of the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Harburg said, 'We are fortunate to have a very good crew. Mark is great guy and he really does attract others of the same qualities to our campaign. Going sailing is just a thrill, as we have no egos on board. Mark’s talent and ability to run our team like he does are exemplary. It does make us proud to have it all go so smoothly – you do have to be when you take into account the unbelievable talent out there on other yachts.'

Bradford said of the Harburgs, 'He is thoughtful, and does not speak without thinking first. He sees the best in every situation, is positive and has a big picture take on things. Jan and Peter have strong emotional investment in the campaign and we’re all fortunate enough to enjoy part of their journey. He’s involved in the physics of it and our crew structure.'

Telefonica has been to the cosmetic surgeon and even the re-born Black Jack has had a nip n’ tuck after that. Again, the motor racing aspect has ensured that she is always looking to save weight. When you consider Black Jack is say 13 metric tonnes, whereas her 100-foot rivals are more like 30, accordingly you’ll no doubt start to see that you’re two thirds of the LWL and under half the displacement. Good start on the power to weight ratio game and then take into consideration that VO70s own the bulk of 24hr run records. They can, and have beaten, 100-footers in some of the world’s major and most renowned races.

Chief amongst the changes are a new and longer keel. It makes the boat lighter, but also keeps the righting moment when you combine it with the best stick in the business – ultra high modulus carbon, which came with the boat. So if you go down a metre you loose a tonne (rule of thumb) and whilst the surface area goes up on the fin, it goes down on the now smaller bulb and similarly on the less wetted surface area of the hull, due to it riding higher. All of that means better upwind and reaching potential, without compromising the VO70s strong suit, smashingly hot performance off the breeze in a blow. So I guess you could say here is one boat happy to see Huey go pretty nuts.

'In 25-30knots at 130°TWA, we’re it. It is harder and the risk goes up, but so too the reward. If you used to be say 138°TWA off the breeze and changes can send you into low 140s and you do that for a whole day, then that extra five degrees towards the mark will really add up. We might be the little boat that could, but we aim to be near enough to them to be able to capitalise when a good blow or opportunity arrives. The 100s have higher averages when they’re doing low 20s, as they only loose one or two knots, whereas we might peel off five or so. All in all it means our team of 14 will be working hard, no matter what Huey brings', said Bradford.

'Our crew have been together for ages. We do model ourselves on the Wild Oats guys. We are Pro-Am, but they have all won a World Championship in something. This will be our third Hobart in a row with just about the same lot on board. Personally I thought I would never get to ten, but here we are… We are all on the same dream and enjoy each other’s company and a good laugh. I planned it that way from the lessons I learned about team management during my Oracle days when I was in charge of the B boat and the discarded sailors. It’s simple. When one person picks the team, they go for like minded souls, and in turn, that brings about harmony.'



Before finishing this episode of The Wacky Races, one feels compelled to mention a particular DK46, just because of her name, which is Khaleesi. If you have not been on the Game of Thrones bandwagon and living at the bottom of your keel bulb, then you can get a glimpse of all that just above. Back to the Wacky Races, and the time may well have passed when a 40 something can jag an overall win and now you would think well into 50 feet is the key, given the point earlier about how fast it is at the front now. So then, to look at the fact that many participants bring non-racers to the party, we find Katharsis II, which is an Oyster 72 and it sounds like a great, nee majestic, way to travel. Indeed it reminds one of the adage, go first class and the world goes with you…

All of this could well mean that and much more to boot. Come Boxing Day we’ll all be glued to the TV, much like we were when we were kids on a Saturday morning when the cartoons ran. It could well be The Wacky Races, but then that is more than likely the very reason for its appeal around the globe and across so many sectors of society. Look out for Jack, Natalie, Rock, Gravel, Penelope, Rufus, a loud talking Sergeant and many other cast members. If you’re fortunate enough to be on the rail of a spectator craft, you could get personable with some of these stars, which would be a little like a floating red carpet experience.