1998 Race Recap
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Hick 35 AFR Midnight Rambler, Overall Winner in 1998
Telstra Sydney Hobart 1998
Race Program
Prior to each race Cruising Yacht Club of Australia publishes a separate official race program (with details of competing boats, the results of past races and articles about the race and its participants and other important events). The 1998 Edition is here.
Race Documents
Weather
Tragedy struck the 1998 Telstra Sydney Hobart when the worst storm in the 54 year history of the race hit the fleet as most of the 115 yachts entered, or were already in Bass Strait, after a record-breaking dash south down the Australian East Coast.
The race began on December 26, 1998 with a favourable current running south at 4 knots, with strengthening north to north-easterly winds of generally 25-35 knots prevailing off the NSW southern coast. By early morning on December 27, an upper air jet stream and a substantial cold air mass had moved rapidly northwards over Victoria producing unseasonable snow falls on the Australian Alps in the wake of the surface cold front.
In association with injection of a deep layer of cold air over Victoria, a new small-scale low begun to form and intensify over Bass Strait to the south of Wilsons Promontory. The central pressures in the rapidly intensifying low dropped rapidly to near 980 hPa. The low initially moved northeastwards but shifted to a more easterly path at a speed of 25 knots by late morning on December 27. At midday, the low passed to the south of Gabo Island, maintaining its intensity.
In association with the low pressure system, west to south west winds with mean speeds reaching storm force developed and extended over eastern Bass Strait and southern NSW coastal waters, maintaining much of its intensity for 36 hours. At least 12 competing yachts reported west and south-westerly winds of up to 80 knots and seas of 15 metres, frequently to 20 metres and more, as this so-called "Bass Strait Bomb" exploded. A third of the fleet reported the average wind speed as greater than 60 knots.
As one crew member described conditions, "the sea was sheet white from the wind with white-outs coming through the gusts." Several yachts reported being rolled 180 degrees and more. Several were rolled more than once. Of the 115 boats which started, 71 retired, 44 finishing after battling across Bass Strait under storm tri-sails and storm jibs, sometimes down to a storm jib or even bare poles.
In a remarkable search and rescue operation, 56 crew members were rescued by helicopters and surface vessels from nine stricken yachts or their liferafts, with one man-overboard (MOB) situation. In total 16 yachts asked for some form of assistance. Seven boats were abandoned and five sank during the storm, most of them after having been rolled by the huge seas, as were most of the other yachts in difficulty.
Sadly, six crew members perished at sea in the worst tragedy in the long history of the Sydney Hobart. In Hobart, those who finished the race, along with many who had been rescued and race officials, stood beside Constitution Dock for an emotional "Yachties Farewell" to those who perished at sea in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race: Glyn Charles (Sword of Orion), Bruce Guy and Phil Skeggs (Business Post Naiad), Jim Lawler, Mike Bannister and John Dean (Winston Churchill).
Race reports
After each race, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's magazine Offshore Yachting contains photo galleries, reports and articles on the race. Read on to access them.