Victory For The Ages Has Steel Riding Quest Of A Wave
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday December 30, 2008
QUEST skipper Bob Steel has put his boat's Sydney to Hobart handicap triumph down to his crew's blend of youthful grunt and experience and, which helped overcome the potentially damaging loss of one of the spinnaker sails.
Quest won the prestigious Tattersall's Cup for the fastest corrected time after finishing in two days, one hour and 37 seconds, ahead of Cougar II, Wot Now, Ragamuffin and Yendys. The commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Matt Allen, awarded the trophy to the Quest crew yesterday on Constitution Dock.Sydneysider Steel said the boat's biggest spinnaker blew out early on Saturday morning, while the boat was travelling at 25 knots. The crew hoisted the next biggest spinnaker, which was used for most of the remaining distance to Hobart."We were going gangbusters at the time," he said. "Before the race, I had decided to take an A1 [smaller spinnaker] instead of a second A4 [biggest spinnaker] and I was mumbling about that decision and who made it. But I kept my counsel - which was just as well," he added, laughing. The skipper said the hairiest moment of the race came when the boat was just 200m from the finish line, as sudden 50-knot gusts of wind tore across Battery Point. "If we'd been in that wind another half an hour, we wouldn't have a mainsail left," he said. "A hundred metres out, I wasn't confident we would make it."Steel included two first-timers in the experienced crew - which has notched up 170 Hobarts between them - to provide the energy on the boat. "Their fathers were saying, 'Why not ask me?' But I wanted the young pups to do all the work," said Steel.Manly electricians Andrew McBean, 28, and Stuart McCuaig, 26, got the prized gig and have won the Sydney to Hobart on their first race. "The speeds we were doing and the water coming over the boat was amazing," said McBean. "It was tough with all of the sail changes. I wouldn't like to do it in the opposite direction [into headwinds]."The rigours of being on the grinder for most of the race resulted in McCuaig losing three kilograms in two days, but he said the victory had inspired him to pursue more ocean racing. McCuaig's father, John, completed eight Hobart races in the early '90s on Dr Who. "I think Dad was ridiculously pleased I got the chance . . . I know he lived on the [computer] yacht tracker for the whole race," McCuaig said.Steel won the Tattersall's Cup in 2002 in another boat also called Quest, and was provisionally awarded the trophy in 1995 only to lose by seven minutes.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald