Got to respect the chopper crew, especially the fella going down into the sea and plucking the sailors off rafts, that would take immense courage. And not just once or twice, but 8 men, all that adrenaline, all that effort, not to mention the danger, i doubt many could keep it up, let alone actually do it. I hope he was recognized with some sort of bravery award
The other 4 crew members were rescued by two women from SouthMed going down with the winch. It was their first time doing a sea rescue. Unbelievable courage.
I was on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that day doing the walking tour of the Bridge. It was awesome seeing all the boats heading out down the Harbour. Horrible hearing the news a couple days after that this Race was a disaster .
It's times like those you need more than minties, and that rescue swimmer had immense courage to take that mission on - plus it goes without saying the difficulties of the Pilot and crew on that one!
Good on the men and women who took part. Tragic outcome for those who lost their lives and their families. But for those boring sods in the comments section who say it should have been called off, or who look for blame, go live your boring lives. If it was easy and safe, we'd all be doing it and it wouldn't be amazing.
I was living ing in Hobart when thi s race took place. I had reread about & cl early remembered the tragedy which occurred when an unexpectedly strong Atlantic caused several losses of both lives & participating craft, at the time of the event. What struck me most about the participants in this race - The famous Fast et Challenge, who forfeited any chance of winning or even completing the race, when the to the aid of their fellow competitors to give assistance & save lives. Compared with this, I was shocked by t7selfishness of the competitors in that Sydney-Hobart race, who sailed right past others, locating at their fortune to have gained better positions- to the extent where those in difficulty, lost both their lives and nearly all, if rescued lost their boats. Being a Master Mariner myself, I was shocked by the callous disregard of these weekend sailors to give even a second thought tp what professional Mariners would usually do their utmost to aid others in distress - I suppose it is this factor which makes Australians so proud of their success in spots events.😊.
The organizers as well as participants, I'm sure know of potential conditions, and should plan accordingly, including canceling the event altogether. I realize that canceling an event as large as this, has it's drawbacks, but look what was at stake, human lives.
Bare poles can reach hull speed in 70knots of wind....but you dont need hull speed to maneuver...Do you do your best turns at full speed in any vehicle?
The first Sydney to Hobart was in 1945, not 1954...also the wrong date was stated for the start, it was the 26th of December (Boxing Day) not the 27th. It's hard to take this video seriously with this erroneous commentary.
Does anyone have a link to either the CNN special that was done about this race, or to the relevant episode of National Geographic's Situation Critical?
I remember returning home for christmas and telling the old man they should call that race off because those boys were going to get hammered. I worked in the outback, 1000km from the sea and even I knew what was about to happen. Everyone knew, but the race was, and is, too big to cancel. Don’t give us that nobody could predict garbage.
Because you'd be beating into it trying to get back. Beating into seas of any intensity is extremely rough on a boat, if you have the option, you ALWAYS run with it. Another reason is because the system was moving toward where the boats would have been had they turned around, it would have chased them all the way up the coast, whereas if they beat through it, they were going the opposite way of the storm. I've had to make that choice before, we chose to continue into a storm and ride it out rather than try and run away, but we were also on an extremely solid boat built like a tank, designed to take the beating, much like Nokia was. We also had a very experienced crew who had all done thousands of hours of offshore racing.
Enlighten me armchair quarterback, how you would try to help in 40ft seas, 80 knot winds, with a boat that you can barely control yourself? You wouldn't. You COULD'NT. It wouldn't be possible. It's stupid comments like this that show the real sailors who've been there and done that vs the ones that sail from their living room TV.
@@robdog1245 Despite the environment the refusal to come to the aid of a mayday contravenes an old maritime commitment based on group goodwill and courage. Despite their own issues they should just try and render assistance and stand off the stricken vessel even at their own risk until help arrives or in case of crew in the water. I would do the same for you as I must it is not a choice "does the good shepherd risk the whole flock to save the one lost in a storm?". By the way I was not a quarterback but a Rugby Flanker with 56 stitches in my head to attest to the fact I committed, plus I have pitchpoled and gone under a green one in wooden boats also owned an ocean going vessel for 18 years
All those boats from that time period were pretty... Check out the SA post "Some of my old Sailing Photos" if you have an appreciation for those boats.
Sovereign great ol Maxi era they were the days powerful Yachts you knew you were sailing when you were surfing down 20ft waves or beating ya brains out to winward 😎 loved every second of it….
commentary on the understanding of the weather is rubbish - and even to this day "official dom" continually play that line - the more professional yachts had "Clouds Roger Baddhams forecast that we were going to get a thumping and the east coast low was highly likely - we had NAS Nowra (Naval Air Station Nowra) who have provided us with a pretty precise forecast of how hard and when - interestingly it was the Japanese model that had it most accurately forecast - but the strength of the system in isolation wasn't of concern - moreover the multifaceted issues of not failing to recognise the severity of the system approach - the sailors at the time being 10ft tall and bullet proof ie no plan B - and essentially they were found to be amateur sailors - and not professional seaman. Dreadful result for Winston Churchill Sword of Orion and business post Niad
I bet you have to be an Unbelievable Heli Pilot to fly Rescue Birds!! To Hold a Hover @ 70 , 80knot Gusting Wind, Rain & Ocean Spray! With a Rescue swimmer on a Leash , dangling just above the Seas, & to Effectively Basket Rescue Survivors in that 💩 from the sea to up to a hovering bird!?!?!
The television station ABC always followed the race in the chopper. On this occassion they were acting as a radio relay between race control vessel (Young Endeavour) and yachts that had lost their HF antennas after capsizes so had to use line of sight VHF. They were not equipped as a rescue chopper although Gary Ticehurst (the pilot) always carried a makeshift ladder
@@robertfindlay2325 90 feet, don't be ridiculous. An individual, rogue wave might reach that height in a rare occasion. Largest recorded wave in the Southern-Hemisphere was 78ft. While that doesn't mean bigger waves don't exist (they do), as mentioned before, they are extremely rare. The data for the particular storm is easy enough to find. The Esso Kingfish B Platform recorded a mean wave height of 6-7m, (19-22ft.). Highest recorded wave was 12m, (40ft). Though apparently some ships recorded waves of up to 15m. That also sounds consistent with the wind stats. Bottom line, stick with the stats and don't make things up. 90ft is for the movies, and for the occasional surf in Nazare.
no offence, but it looks bit amateurish. These boats were not prepared for conditions . isn't there race committee that has some rules of minimum equipment ?
Emlighten me what design specifications do you have for 80 knot winds and seas regularly hitting 90 foot? There is a story from one of the rescue chopper pilots holding a 100 foot hover and seeing a wave come at him. He put another 50 foot altitude on it and the altimeter went to 10 foot as the wave went under. What type of boat would you expect to survive being under that wave when it broke?
When Port Phillip Bay heads got closed "they" should have stopped the race, it was known what they would be sailing through when the crossed Bass Straight but the stupid yachty's thought they could beat it.
that's rubbish. they recieved an official forecast of a maximum 65 knot winds when it was already blowing 78k and topped out over 95k that's 175km/h not one of them boats would sail into that if they knew the actual conditions
Agree when the Heads were closed they should have called the race. But you are wrong, the yachty's out there didn't know what they were heading into because the reports they were getting were not accurate to the conditions and the big boys up ahead were giving no indications if things improved or got worse... they were in conditions way worse than the official reports and they could either head back staying in the storm because they couldn't out run it or push on and hope to come out the other side too. I have always felt the maxi's up ahead should have given more feed back.
No - Not the greatest single disaster in Australian maritime history. Try the sinking of the HMAS Sydney in WW2 because of very poor decisions in assessing risk.
Would Australian Maritime history imply in Australian waters? But then there is the hospital ship sunk off Queensland somewhere, off Brisbane I think during WWII.
@@neddyladdy I think it would because it was off the north end of Bernier island about 120 miles from the island at the time of spotting each other or maybe a little less. About longitude 111 apparently.
Plenty survived If they streamed a drogue or hove to much smaller can and regularly weather like it just fine....they were trying to race and many survived
Who takes bananas on a boat? I think there are deep superstitions about taking bananas on a boat due to the Caribbean banana boats exploding due to a build up of gases given off below deck by the bananas,
@Slater Slater Having once copped a flogging in Bass Strait and having been towed back to Flinders Island, and far less worse conditions, I wonder how on earth any yacht in the conditions of 1989 could have helped any other yacht. Just getting a tow-line aboard in the conditions we faced was an epic and was very dangerous to both of us in simply bringing the line aboard.
@Slater SlaterIn conditions like this, it's often too dangerous to aid others. Similar to extreme climbing, you're more likely to end up getting more people killed by trying. Those who chose to go out into those events (should) know the risk and accept it. Lifeguards are trained to use the people the rescue to keep themselves safe if necessary. Why? Because if the lifeguard is injured, both may die. Under other conditions, even highly competitive racers will choose to render aid, provided it is reasonably safe and necessary to do so. Let's not go around insulting people when we don't understand the environments in which they operate.
Not true at all. Look at the Volvo 65's, the IMOCA 60's, Comanche, Wild Oats, Scallywag, they're all built for speed AND toughness. The VOR 65's wouldn't survive around the world racing if they weren't built tough enough.
Does anyone have a link to either the CNN special that was done about this race, or to the relevant episode of National Geographic's Situation Critical?
How the fuck they plucked those people out of the life rafts and the water in those conditions is incomprehensible. It's truly amazing work.
Got to respect the chopper crew, especially the fella going down into the sea and plucking the sailors off rafts, that would take immense courage. And not just once or twice, but 8 men, all that adrenaline, all that effort, not to mention the danger, i doubt many could keep it up, let alone actually do it. I hope he was recognized with some sort of bravery award
That man is my stepdad and he got many awards!
The other 4 crew members were rescued by two women from SouthMed going down with the winch. It was their first time doing a sea rescue. Unbelievable courage.
hopefully that never happens again
60 ft waves!
It's extreme! The helicopter would has to go up and down at the same frequency as the waves, e.g. every 6 seconds.
I was on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that day doing the walking tour of the Bridge. It was awesome seeing all the boats heading out down the Harbour. Horrible hearing the news a couple days after that this Race was a disaster .
It's times like those you need more than minties, and that rescue swimmer had immense courage to take that mission on - plus it goes without saying the difficulties of the Pilot and crew on that one!
13:28 very wise words and action!
Clever,not ambitious.
The book "Hell on High Water" by Rob Mundle is an excellent account of this tragic chapter in the Sydney to Hobart story.
Interesting doc, especially after reading about all this in (I think the opening chapter of) the excellent book "The Billionaire and the Mechanic"
Rescuers are heroes !
Definitely, going out into that on a helicopter or on another vessel took courage and skill. I take my hat off to them all!
Great video & thumbs up. Cheers from sunny Sint Maarten
As a former offshore racer and boat owner, I feel physically ill every time I see Sayonara flex at 1:00 in…
Good on the men and women who took part. Tragic outcome for those who lost their lives and their families. But for those boring sods in the comments section who say it should have been called off, or who look for blame, go live your boring lives. If it was easy and safe, we'd all be doing it and it wouldn't be amazing.
If the weather prediction was that bad they defiantly wouldn’t have gone, problem wasn’t the organisers just the weather prediction
Lollllllll you would start the race if you had a forecast of 90 kt plus winds
Yeah it’s kinda the sailors fault they chose to go even though they saw what the weather was like but still pretty sad that people died in this!
Un video que deja muchas enseñanzas, para mi como instructor de vela, material obligatorio para los alumnos.
I was living ing in Hobart when thi s race took place. I had reread about & cl early remembered the tragedy which occurred when an unexpectedly strong Atlantic caused several losses of both lives & participating craft, at the time of the event. What struck me most about the participants in this race - The famous Fast et Challenge, who forfeited any chance of winning or even completing the race, when the to the aid of their fellow competitors to give assistance & save lives. Compared with this, I was shocked by t7selfishness of the competitors in that Sydney-Hobart race, who sailed right past others, locating at their fortune to have gained better positions- to the extent where those in difficulty, lost both their lives and nearly all, if rescued lost their boats. Being a Master Mariner myself, I was shocked by the callous disregard of these weekend sailors to give even a second thought tp what professional Mariners would usually do their utmost to aid others in distress - I suppose it is this factor which makes Australians so proud of their success in spots events.😊.
Should have named the race (asking for Trouble ) let the ozzie terstrone flow . LOL
The organizers as well as participants, I'm sure know of potential conditions, and should plan accordingly, including canceling the event altogether. I realize that canceling an event as large as this, has it's drawbacks, but look what was at stake, human lives.
Captains decision
because if you pull up the main in that conditions, you loose control over the boat... there is a point when you have to depower the rig
Have to still keep hull speed to maneuver.
Bare poles can reach hull speed in 70knots of wind....but you dont need hull speed to maneuver...Do you do your best turns at full speed in any vehicle?
If you're interested in this race, you'll enjoy the book, The Proving Ground, by Bruce Knecht.
peter davis you fuckin beast..go you good aussie thang 👍🤘
The first Sydney to Hobart was in 1945, not 1954...also the wrong date was stated for the start, it was the 26th of December (Boxing Day) not the 27th. It's hard to take this video seriously with this erroneous commentary.
wow!!! Flight paramedic. Wow!
This is so sad
7:54 what's the name of the background music?
Damn Sayonara is one sexy yacht.
Does anyone have a link to either the CNN special that was done about this race, or to the relevant episode of National Geographic's Situation Critical?
Here is the National Geographic film: m.ruclips.net/video/P0CMo8SeEBY/видео.html
I remember returning home for christmas and telling the old man they should call that race off because those boys were going to get hammered. I worked in the outback, 1000km from the sea and even I knew what was about to happen. Everyone knew, but the race was, and is, too big to cancel. Don’t give us that nobody could predict garbage.
How on earth can it be safer to ride out a storm rather than turn and run away from it ?
Because you'd be beating into it trying to get back. Beating into seas of any intensity is extremely rough on a boat, if you have the option, you ALWAYS run with it. Another reason is because the system was moving toward where the boats would have been had they turned around, it would have chased them all the way up the coast, whereas if they beat through it, they were going the opposite way of the storm. I've had to make that choice before, we chose to continue into a storm and ride it out rather than try and run away, but we were also on an extremely solid boat built like a tank, designed to take the beating, much like Nokia was. We also had a very experienced crew who had all done thousands of hours of offshore racing.
Robert Bents thank you for explaining that to me. 👍👍
Some great sailors.
hopefully that never happens again
Bananas are bad luck on a sailboat. No wonder there was carnage.
Me being a woman with hypertrophic survival instinct, seeing what is coming: Nope. I quit.
Big bucks, big egos and so much hubris. Vessels refusing to acknowledge other Maydays and flares shame on those offenders..
Enlighten me armchair quarterback, how you would try to help in 40ft seas, 80 knot winds, with a boat that you can barely control yourself? You wouldn't. You COULD'NT. It wouldn't be possible. It's stupid comments like this that show the real sailors who've been there and done that vs the ones that sail from their living room TV.
@@robdog1245 Despite the environment the refusal to come to the aid of a mayday contravenes an old maritime commitment based on group goodwill and courage. Despite their own issues they should just try and render assistance and stand off the stricken vessel even at their own risk until help arrives or in case of crew in the water. I would do the same for you as I must it is not a choice "does the good shepherd risk the whole flock to save the one lost in a storm?". By the way I was not a quarterback but a Rugby Flanker with 56 stitches in my head to attest to the fact I committed, plus I have pitchpoled and gone under a green one in wooden boats also owned an ocean going vessel for 18 years
Incorrect date of the first race.
Bananas on a boat ? They should have known better !
Just shows the egos of these pretenders
What's wrong with that?
16:43 why did they sail without mainsail and surprised they were rolled by waves?
they had the storm sail out and were still going to quick for the conditions
Storm jib
4:50 very bad product placement for Nokia...
my favourit yacht of all time is my childhood favourit SOVEREİGN.! The beautiful RED fast yacht. close second is DRUMBEAT. both ALAN BONDs yachts.
All those boats from that time period were pretty... Check out the SA post "Some of my old Sailing Photos" if you have an appreciation for those boats.
I don't think Alan Bond owned Sovereign, however he did own Drumbeat.
Sovereign great ol Maxi era they were the days powerful Yachts you knew you were sailing when you were surfing down 20ft waves or beating ya brains out to winward 😎 loved every second of it….
commentary on the understanding of the weather is rubbish - and even to this day "official dom" continually play that line - the more professional yachts had "Clouds Roger Baddhams forecast that we were going to get a thumping and the east coast low was highly likely - we had NAS Nowra (Naval Air Station Nowra) who have provided us with a pretty precise forecast of how hard and when - interestingly it was the Japanese model that had it most accurately forecast - but the strength of the system in isolation wasn't of concern - moreover the multifaceted issues of not failing to recognise the severity of the system approach - the sailors at the time being 10ft tall and bullet proof ie no plan B - and essentially they were found to be amateur sailors - and not professional seaman. Dreadful result for Winston Churchill Sword of Orion and business post Niad
Not failing to recognise the severity of the system??? So the did recognise the severity of the system ?
Adrenalin overdose
I bet you have to be an Unbelievable Heli Pilot to fly Rescue Birds!! To Hold a Hover @ 70 , 80knot Gusting Wind, Rain & Ocean Spray!
With a Rescue swimmer on a Leash , dangling just above the Seas, & to Effectively Basket Rescue Survivors in that 💩 from the sea to up to a hovering bird!?!?!
hi
They had bananas. That’s why it went tits up...
so there was another copter for just filming the rescue? wtf
Yeah, if it's not filmed it didn't happen
The television station ABC always followed the race in the chopper. On this occassion they were acting as a radio relay between race control vessel (Young Endeavour) and yachts that had lost their HF antennas after capsizes so had to use line of sight VHF. They were not equipped as a rescue chopper although Gary Ticehurst (the pilot) always carried a makeshift ladder
1945 it began not 1954
Why the hell didnt they hove-to?
Try heaving to with 90feet high breaking waves. You will get rolled.
@@robertfindlay2325 90 feet, don't be ridiculous. An individual, rogue wave might reach that height in a rare occasion. Largest recorded wave in the Southern-Hemisphere was 78ft. While that doesn't mean bigger waves don't exist (they do), as mentioned before, they are extremely rare. The data for the particular storm is easy enough to find. The Esso Kingfish B Platform recorded a mean wave height of 6-7m, (19-22ft.). Highest recorded wave was 12m, (40ft). Though apparently some ships recorded waves of up to 15m. That also sounds consistent with the wind stats.
Bottom line, stick with the stats and don't make things up. 90ft is for the movies, and for the occasional surf in Nazare.
@@robertfindlay2325 always ride out storms better hove to....dont comment if you dont know
no offence, but it looks bit amateurish. These boats were not prepared for conditions . isn't there race committee that has some rules of minimum equipment ?
The only boat prepared for those conditions is a submarine.
Emlighten me what design specifications do you have for 80 knot winds and seas regularly hitting 90 foot? There is a story from one of the rescue chopper pilots holding a 100 foot hover and seeing a wave come at him. He put another 50 foot altitude on it and the altimeter went to 10 foot as the wave went under. What type of boat would you expect to survive being under that wave when it broke?
min 15:40, espectacular!!
oh no I wouldn't survive Hobart 9098
When Port Phillip Bay heads got closed "they" should have stopped the race, it was known what they would be sailing through when the crossed Bass Straight but the stupid yachty's thought they could beat it.
that's rubbish. they recieved an official forecast of a maximum 65 knot winds when it was already blowing 78k and topped out over 95k that's 175km/h not one of them boats would sail into that if they knew the actual conditions
Agree when the Heads were closed they should have called the race. But you are wrong, the yachty's out there didn't know what they were heading into because the reports they were getting were not accurate to the conditions and the big boys up ahead were giving no indications if things improved or got worse... they were in conditions way worse than the official reports and they could either head back staying in the storm because they couldn't out run it or push on and hope to come out the other side too. I have always felt the maxi's up ahead should have given more feed back.
1945 wasn’t it..?
No - Not the greatest single disaster in Australian maritime history. Try the sinking of the HMAS Sydney in WW2 because of very poor decisions in assessing risk.
Would Australian Maritime history imply in Australian waters? But then there is the hospital ship sunk off Queensland somewhere, off Brisbane I think during WWII.
@@neddyladdy I think it would because it was off the north end of Bernier island about 120 miles from the island at the time of spotting each other or maybe a little less. About longitude 111 apparently.
"... Australian maritime history (during) 'peacetime'..."
Narrator should've said "peacetime", I suppose... 🤔
no yacht is capable of taking on that abuse. maybe an aircraft carrier or military ships but no yachts
Plenty survived
If they streamed a drogue or hove to much smaller can and regularly weather like it just fine....they were trying to race and many survived
Who takes bananas on a boat? I think there are deep superstitions about taking bananas on a boat due to the Caribbean banana boats exploding due to a build up of gases given off below deck by the bananas,
+Ric Noble I thought the bannanas were bad because they made other fruit ripen to fast?
Race boats aren't the most sea worthy designs......and racers take a lot of risks wanting to finish first. No surprises at what happened.
@Slater Slater Having once copped a flogging in Bass Strait and having been towed back to Flinders Island, and far less worse conditions, I wonder how on earth any yacht in the conditions of 1989 could have helped any other yacht. Just getting a tow-line aboard in the conditions we faced was an epic and was very dangerous to both of us in simply bringing the line aboard.
@Slater SlaterIn conditions like this, it's often too dangerous to aid others. Similar to extreme climbing, you're more likely to end up getting more people killed by trying. Those who chose to go out into those events (should) know the risk and accept it. Lifeguards are trained to use the people the rescue to keep themselves safe if necessary. Why? Because if the lifeguard is injured, both may die. Under other conditions, even highly competitive racers will choose to render aid, provided it is reasonably safe and necessary to do so. Let's not go around insulting people when we don't understand the environments in which they operate.
I was surprised at the risks they were taking to cross the start line first let alone the finish line.
Not true at all. Look at the Volvo 65's, the IMOCA 60's, Comanche, Wild Oats, Scallywag, they're all built for speed AND toughness. The VOR 65's wouldn't survive around the world racing if they weren't built tough enough.
Does anyone have a link to either the CNN special that was done about this race, or to the relevant episode of National Geographic's Situation Critical?
National Geo link: ruclips.net/video/P0CMo8SeEBY/видео.html
There is an ABC Four Corners video on here about it.
@@bowlingaz I love Four Corners and I've seen that one several times.