Defender Brindabella Coordinates - | Number of Yachts 115 Winner Sayonara | |
Date 26 December 1998 – 3 January 1999 | ||
The 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race was the 54th annual running of the "blue water classic" Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. It was hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia based in Sydney, New South Wales. It was the most disastrous in the race's history, with the loss of six lives and five yachts.
Contents
The 1998 race, like every other edition, began on Sydney Harbour, at noon on Boxing Day (26 December 1998), before heading south for 630 nautical miles (1,171 km) through the Tasman Sea, past Bass Strait, into Storm Bay and up the Derwent River, to cross the finish line in Hobart, Tasmania.
1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race Tragedy
The 1998 fleet comprised 115 starters. Of these, only 44 yachts completed the race, after severe weather conditions struck the fleet off the south-eastern Australian coast. An unusually strong low pressure depression developed which resulted in mid-summer snow across parts of south-east Australia. The weather system built into an exceptionally strong storm with winds reaching up to 70 knots, similar in strength to a lower-category Tropical cyclone. The rising storm produced an enormous waterspout perilously close to one yacht, and ultimately caused the sinking of five boats and the deaths of six sailors. Additionally a record 66 yachts retired from the race, and 55 other sailors had to be airlifted from their yachts by rescue helicopter. Overall, the rescue efforts involved 35 military and civilian aircraft and 27 Royal Australian Navy vessels, and proved to be Australia's largest ever peacetime rescue operation.
As a result, the crew eligibility rules were tightened, requiring a higher minimum age and experience.
A coroner's inquest into the deaths was critical of both the race management at the time and the Bureau of Meteorology.
The results of the inquest were released on 12 December 2000, NSW coroner John Abernethy finding that the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia had "abdicated its responsibility to manage the race". He wrote: "From what I have read and heard, it is clear to me that during this crucial time the race management team played the role of observers rather than managers and that was simply not good enough." But he acknowledged the club's actions to upgrade safety precautions and sailor qualifications.
Abernethy also criticised the bureau for making no effort to inform race officials of a dramatically upgraded weather forecast about the severe storm developing south of Eden, when it was common public knowledge the race was scheduled to begin. As a remedial measure, he required the bureau to add maximum wind gust speed and wave height to its forecasts.
The day after the coroner's findings, the club's race director, Phil Thompson, resigned his position. According to the coroner's report, "Mr Thompson's inability to appreciate the problems when they arose and his inability to appreciate them at the time of giving his evidence causes me concern that (he) may not appreciate such problems as they arise in the future."
Three books have been written about the race, The Proving Ground by G. Bruce Knecht, Fatal Storm by Rob Mundle, and Knockdown by Martin Dugard.
Deaths
The six sailors who died were: Phillip Charles Skeggs (Business Post Naiad, drowned, 27 December 1998); Bruce Raymond Guy (Business Post Naiad, heart attack, 27 December 1998); John Dean, James Lawler and Michael Bannister (Winston Churchill, all drowned, 28 December 1998); and Glyn Charles (Sword of Orion, drowned, 28 December 1998).
1998 Fleet
115 yachts registered to begin the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. They are: