The Antipodes sails into Hobart. Photo: Salty Dingo 2024
Celebrations for 2024 Sydney-Hobart yacht race line winners LawConnect were muted after two deaths during the race’s first night on Boxing Day.
South Australian Nick Smith, 65, and 55-year-old West Australian Roy Quaden were killed in separate incidents as their vessels sailed down the NSW South Coast
Media reports say Smith, competing on Bowline in his fifth Sydney to Hobart, hit his head on a winch after he was thrown across the yacht when struck by the boat’s main sheet.
Quaden was hit by the boom aboard Flying Fish Arctos.
Both crews, who subsequently retired from the race and returned to shore, performed CPR on the men but were unable to save them.
Their bodies were returned to shore on Friday morning and the boats have been seized.
Crew on board LawConnect tempered celebrations and held back on the usual champagne and trophy presentation in respect for the two men.
The Christian Beck-skippered supermaxi was first across the River Derwent finish line at 2.35am on Saturday in a time of one day 13 hours 35 minutes and 13 seconds.
More than a quarter of the 104 yachts that left Sydney Harbour had so far retired after an aggressive weather front, electrical issues and crew injuries prompted 29 boats to pull out by 11am on Saturday.
Media reports say Cruising Yacht Club of Australia vice commodore David Jacobs had maintained conditions were not “excessive” and organisers would not call off the race.
But LawConnect crew member Tony Mutter described the conditions as the worst of his 11 Sydney to Hobart races.
While battling it out across the Bass Strait, Mutter said the boat managed to escape sail damage, with his crewmates only picking up “bumps and bruises”.
“There was challenging conditions, probably the roughest race I’ve done out of the 11 that I’ve done .. but we came through okay, we didn’t break too much stuff, and people are okay, just got a few bumps and bruises,” he said.
The first night proved to be the toughest part of the race where his crew were “executing five gybes in 35 to 40 knots winds”.
