{"id":377738,"date":"2025-12-29T07:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T07:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/377738\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T07:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T07:58:10","slug":"sydney-to-hobart-competitors-tell-of-horrendous-conditions-during-2025-race-ordeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/377738\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney to Hobart competitors tell of ‘horrendous’ conditions during 2025 race ordeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is the race sailors from around the world dream about competing in \u2014 a nautical sprint along scenic Australian coastlines.<\/p>\n

But as they vomited into buckets, repaired broken masts and slammed down off towering waves, some may have questioned that dream.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Wild Thing 100 skipper Grant Wharington says “conditions were pretty testing” on the first evening. (Bow Caddy Media)<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

While conditions have now eased for the remaining yachts in the Sydney to Hobart, the first two days of the famous race were defined by punishing seas.<\/p>\n

As of Monday afternoon, 34 of the 128 yachts had retired, with issues ranging from hull damage to seasickness \u2014 meaning more than a quarter of the fleet had pulled out.<\/p>\n

Marine Rescue NSW was called to two medical incidents and multiple sailors have reported injuries, including suspected broken ribs.<\/p>\n

‘Like being inside a drum’Comanche takes out line honours in Sydney to Hobart race<\/a><\/p>\n

Master Lock Comanche claims line honours in the 80th edition of the gruelling Sydney to Hobart yacht race, with a stunning daylight hours finish.<\/p>\n

Kevin Le Poidevin was racing on his yacht Roaring Forty in the double-handed category, which started being smashed by 2-metre waves shortly after leaving Sydney.<\/p>\n

Those waves built as high as 6m as the fleet pushed south, causing water to crash over the top of his vessel.<\/p>\n

Le Poidevin said the current, swell and wind were all coming from different directions, creating some “pretty wild cross seas”.<\/p>\n

“What you end up with is literally like a washing machine, where the boat is getting thrown off waves and landing down hard \u2014 it’s boat-breaking stuff,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The shockwaves are incredible and when you’re inside [the hull] \u2026 it is like being inside a drum.”\"A<\/p>\n

Master Lock Comanche sails in the 80th Sydney to Hobart yacht race in December 2025. (Facebook: Master Lock Comanche)<\/p>\n

The situation worsened when the only other crewmate on Roaring Forty became seasick about four hours into the race.<\/p>\n

Le Poidevin warned seasickness could create dangerous situations, even for very experienced offshore sailors, which he said “armchair critics” may not realise.<\/p>\n

“They’re not coherent, they lose their balance easy, the boat jumps off waves, launching into the air \u2014 that’s where the real worry starts,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If they can’t keep themselves safe then there’s only one alternative, which is to retire.”<\/p>\n

After eight hours battling seasickness, Roaring Forty turned around near Jervis Bay and returned downwind to Sydney.<\/p>\n

‘Vomit comet’ no fun at all<\/p>\n

Three other boats have retired due to seasickness, but illness has been widespread \u2014 with nausea striking sailors on almost every boat during the opening stretch.<\/p>\n

In a social media video, First Light skipper Elizabeth Tucker described the opening night of the race as “rather unpleasant”.<\/p>\n

She said six of the seven sailors on her boat were impacted by seasickness.<\/p>\n

In a later update, Tucker said “all bar one of us have stepped off the vomit comet now and things are looking up”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Oroton Drumfire during 2025 Sydney to Hobart race. (Rolex: Andrea Francolini)<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

Even big boats bear the brunt<\/p>\n

The impacts of the bruising conditions were not limited to the smaller boats, as even the large yachts leading the race occasionally struggled to manage.<\/p>\n

Jono Clough was a pitman on Lucky, an 88-footer that crossed the line in fourth place as it arrived in Hobart on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

He said the front of the boat was regularly “going up and down probably 10m” as it smashed through waves.<\/p>\n

“The first two days were pretty rough \u2014 pretty horrendous for us,” Clough said.<\/p>\n

“When you’re in your bunk, sometimes you’re levitating because you’re slamming so hard.”<\/p>\n

‘It was pretty bad’<\/p>\n

Nick Bice was a crew member on Celestial V70, the reigning overall handicap champion in the Sydney to Hobart.<\/p>\n

He said the opening day “wasn’t fun for anyone” due to the rough conditions.<\/p>\n

“If anyone thinks about the Sydney to Hobart and thinks about having fun \u2014 it wasn’t that for a day and a half,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The last day was pretty nice and that kind of makes you forget about all the badness, but it was pretty bad.”\"A<\/p>\n

URM Group pictured at sea before announcing their retirement. (Suplied: Rolex\/Andrea Francolini)<\/p>\n

Retired sailors fly south for celebrations<\/p>\n

Not wanting to miss the celebrations, sailors from boats that retired before crossing the Bass Strait have flown to Hobart.<\/p>\n

On Monday morning, many were already gathered at the Customs House Hotel, sharing sea stories over bloody marys.<\/p>\n

“The silver bird of freedom got me here \u2014 thank goodness,” Anthony Nossiter said.<\/p>\n

He was crewing on URM, which pulled out of the race due to damage to the yacht’s hull.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Anthony Nossiter from URM and Nick Bice from Celestial V70 wind down after a tough event. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

Nossiter was competing in his 25th Sydney to Hobart and said while the conditions were not the worst he had experienced, they were definitely up there.<\/p>\n

“It was definitely a decent beating this time,” he said.\"The<\/p>\n

The Scallywag crew says the first two days were tough. (Supplied: Scallywag)<\/p>\n

Old hands hit by seasickness<\/p>\n

Leo Rodriguez was a tactician and helmsman on Ocean Crusaders J-Bird, which retired due to delamination on the yacht’s hull.<\/p>\n

He said while initial reports suggested winds would be “reasonably light”, that was definitely not the case.<\/p>\n

“It was a very challenging race, actually,” Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

“Just a very long upwind and very challenging conditions for any boat, really.”<\/p>\n

His crew suffered some head knocks, and one member faced a strong bout of seasickness, which Rodriguez said was “not uncommon” in those conditions.<\/p>\n

“It’s strange, you can get people who have never been seasick before \u2026 all of a sudden, they’re seasick,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got some who just throw up and get on with the job, [and then] you’ve got some who dry retch and go, ‘I can’t do this’, and you’ve got to hide them somewhere.”<\/p>\n

Conditions for the yachts still racing are now quite pleasant, with light winds and blue skies, although organisers have warned of the potential for gale-force winds on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Follow the yachts as they sail for Hobart with the official race tracker<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is the race sailors from around the world dream about competing in \u2014 a nautical sprint along…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,8272,203534,12979,28432,77574,203533,85,167624,2801,1192,33758],"class_list":["post-377738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boat","tag-boats-retired","tag-injuries","tag-rough","tag-seas","tag-seasickness","tag-sports","tag-sydney-to-hobart","tag-tasmania","tag-weather","tag-yacht"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}