Who would have thought that when I agreed to sponsor Leo Rodriguez in the 2008 Sydney to Hobart Yacht race that 1. I would participate in the race and 2. the "Telcoinabox" name would be exposed through every newspaper, radio and TV station in Australia.  You could not have written the script that well.  Initially I was not to participate as it was possible that Tash and I would be on our way to London with the boys in February, when this changed I eagerly joined a great bunch of guys on one of the most dangerous ocean races in the world.  Given my sailing experience was limited to racing "Lasers" as a kid, a few corporate sailing events and a couple of bareboat charters, I am not ashamed to say that I was more than a little anxious.  Tash was incredibly supportive of my decision to partake in the race and this made it a lot easier as I had someone to talk to about what I had agreed to do.

In the months leading into the start on December 26, I was racking my brain on how I could maximise the investment.  I figured that unless we sank, or we won it was going to be difficult.  Even after getting out the heads, with Spinnaker flying and sitting on the rail, I was trying to work out what I could do.  I obviously had not factored us saving 14 people from a stricken boat would solve my issue.

 
On race day the buzz around the CYC was awesome, with people everywhere including boat crews making last minute preparations and the general public on the dock for a gawk.  Leo made strict instructions for everyone to meet for breakfast at 7.30am at a nearby hotel.  When Leo turned up at 8.30am because the alarm did not go off, I knew things were going to be interesting.  Once we got the boat out onto the harbour everyone relaxed and the concentration was needed due to the incredible number of boats.  After hoisting our storm sales for the Race Committee which was the last safety check requirement, we started positioning ourselves for the start.  Now that is a thrill.  15+ tonne, multi million dollar boats tacking a manoeuvring in what is a relatively small space was mind blowing.  We missed the start by a couple of boat lengths but given it is a 700 mile race nobody was particularly worried.  We got our self close to the heads and we missed a boat under us which had right of way, so as a penalty we had to do a 720 turn which dropped us further behind the leaders.

  
 
Once we got out Sydney Heads and hoisted the kite we were truly on our way and we found ourselves catching the boats that passed us due to our penalty manoeuvre. By about Wollongong we had caught up and were running about 20th.

 
At 6PM the 3 hour rotating watch system started with 1/3 of the crew on Deck, 1/3 of the crew either on Deck or below fully kitted up ready to assist if required, and 1/3 of the crew sleeping. Around 10.30pm I was on deck when I heard Leo shouting "@$#%, @$#%, @$#%"and came on deck to take over the helm.  As it turned out we were the closest boat to a mayday call from a sinking boat.  The Radio operator on the stricken boat, "Georgia" a Farr 53 ocean racing boat sounded very stressed as she was at the radio/nav station with water up to her waist.  In heavy seas and a blowing wind there was no doubt that they were in trouble.  They could not bail out the water fast enough and were losing the battle to stay afloat.  We hauled sails and motored to the aid of Georgia.  I must add that Leo was not pissed off at going to the aid of the boat, it was an initial reaction as he knew exactly what it would mean to our race plan.  At no stage did he hesitate or was upset at our task ahead.  By the time we got to Georgia the bow and Stern lights were 6 inches off the water and the boat sinking was inevitable.
 
Leo ordered the Georgia crew to launch their life raft and we would take the crew in two batches of 7.  The experienced crew of Telcoinabox Merit jumped into action and in a text book procedure rescued the crew of sinking boat.  I got to hold a torch :).  Within 10 minutes of the rescue and after we "knifed" the life raft, Georgia sank in 500 metres of water.  They had hit something which had ripped out their rudder which then pulled through the deck of the boat allowing the water to rush in.  Within an hour and a half the police rescue boat met up with us and due to heavy seas and a very dark night we motored for over 6 hours toward shore and they crew were transferred at about 6.30am.  We resumed our race, but had slipped back from 19 place to 74th.  Despite losing our weather pattern and being 30+ miles off course we managed to haul in 46 other boats and cross the line in 28th position.  That in itself was an incredible achievement.
 
Once in the Bass straight later that day, we enjoyed reasonable conditions and allowed the 7 experience skippers to have some fun surfing waves in a 27 knot wind while reaching.  The boys managed to get the boat up to 28+ knots surfing down some great waves with the stern of the boat at the top of the wave and the bow at the bottom.  Definitely an experience that I will not forget.  I got some great footage of this.

We were lucky enough to get a great wind just after lunch on the third day to get us up the Derwent river.  Tash, the boys and my parents were at the finish line very excited to see us and be part of the experience.  The dock was packed for our arrival in recognition of our exploits at sea which was a massive thrill as you can imagine.  When we docked we were met by reporters and cameras which was exciting.  I think over the next 2-3 days Leo did 25+ interviews.  The better thing though was the crew of Georgia had arranged an enormous amount of piss to meet us at the finish line.  Awesome!!!

 
After cleaning up the boat we all went to the pub where we found out that an international race panel had taken our submission that took into account that we had lost our weather pattern and we were a long way off course.  We were awarded a very fair 18 hours and meant that we officially crossed the line in 16th place, we won our Division (PHS Division 1) and the Overall PHS category.  What a result!!!!
 
At the awards, Leo and the crew also won a seamanship award or the rescue.
 
Leo in his first Sydney to Hobart race, did one that he will never forget, Telcoinabox had the biggest amount of exposure that I could have ever dreamed of, I got to participate and 7 of the crew had promised for years to get together and do a Hobart race as they were great mates.  What a great result all round.

Author: Damian Kay
Email: damian@telcoinabox.com