Hobart veterans for Transatlantic race

Two very dissimilar racing yachts that are veterans of the gruelling 625 nautical mile Sydney-Hobart race will line up with the 30-strong fleet in this month's 2975 nautical mile Transatlantic race.

The yachts, the 46 footer Dawn Star and the 100-foot supermaxi Leopard, represent the opposite ends of the sailing boats in the race across “the pond” from Newport, Rhode Island, to Lizard Point in South Cornwell.

Dawn Star, a heavy cruiser/racer, will be sailed by her 76-year-old owner William N. Hubbard III (Will) and his son W.N.H. IV (Bill), who is just 26. Hubbard the Fourth sailed Dawn Star from California to Sydney last year so his father, a lifelong racing sailor, could compete in the famous Sydney-Hobart race. The Hubbards hail from New York and the Third has competed successfully in every major yacht race on the US east coast.

But when he arrived in Hobart just before New Year’s Eve last year, he wasn’t too sure he had made the correct decision. “I can honestly say it was the worst and best race I’ve done and that’s the honest-to-God truth,” William III said at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania. “The second day was hell on earth. I’ve never been so unhappy and I thought I’d made a major error of judgement.”

William III, who flew from America just before Christmas to join his globe-trotting son at the Boxing Day start, said his faith in yacht racing was restored on the fourth day as they sailed down Tasmania’s east coast in perfect conditions. “It was the most fantastic day I’ve ever spent on the water,” he said.

Since the end of the Hobart race, Will Hubbard has sailed Dawn Star back to the US and has been working for the past couple of months to ensure the yacht is ready to tackle whatever weather the Atlantic dishes out.

The 30-strong fleet will start in three sections, the smallest yachts on June 26, the slightly larger cruising yachts on June 29, and the big racers, such as Leopard, on July 3. The staggered start is to ensure the yachts finish reasonably close together in England.

British billionaire Mike Slade has brought Leopard to Australia twice for the Sydney-Hobart race, first in 2007 when she measured 98 feet, and again in 2009 when she had been extended to 100 feet. On the first occasion she was second over the line behind Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI and on the second occasion she was third behind the winner Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats.

Slade has always maintained that he has never had conditions to suit Leopard in a Hobart Race. The yacht is heavier and wider than most supermaxis and is designed to excel in really heavy conditions.

After the 2009 Sydney-Hobart Race, Slade took Leopard to Newport to make an attempt on the trans-Atlantic sailing record. He was well ahead of the record pace and only a few hundred nautical miles from the finish when he was hit by adverse weather conditions and the yacht “parked”.

After the record time expired, Leopard was still miles from the finish.

For this month’s race Slade has chartered the yacht to his friend Clarke Murphy but has kept most of his permanent crew, which includes several Australians and New Zealanders, aboard.

He hopes that with the right conditions, Leopard may be able to set a new trans-Atlantic sailing record.