Andoo Comanche has emerged as the yacht to beat in this year’s Sydney to Hobart, but only after a $50 million, 60-tonne near miss this week shook her crew and skipper John ‘Herman’ Winning.
Comanche took out the Australian maxi championship on Tuesday with a commanding performance in Sydney Harbour’s Big Boat Challenge, leading from start to finish and finishing well ahead of fellow supermaxis LawConnect and last year’s Sydney to Hobart winner Black Jack.
Winning’s crew claimed line honours once more after also winning the Cabbage Tree Island race ahead of Hamilton Island Wild Oats (formerly Wild Oats XI).
Comanche set a new record in Monday’s event but only after avoiding what could have been a devastating collision with LawConnect midway through the race.
After Tuesday’s victory, Winning explained the dramatic scenario that had LawConnect approaching Comanche off the coast near Dee Why from a 90-degree angle at approximately 30 km/hr.
The Comanche skipper told The Herald he was unsighted on the approaching “missile, arrow-shaped boat” until roughly 20 seconds before collision due to a 45-degree tilt and the yacht’s iconic black sails.
Comanche, in calmer seas on Tuesday, after a dramatic near-collision a day earlier.Credit:Janie Barrett
Only a last-minute communication breakthrough saw Winning able to steer his 20-plus crew to safety, avoiding LawConnect by “less than a metre”.
“All of a sudden the directives turned to screaming,” Winning told The Herald. “At the last minute I could see my tactician Steve Jarvin’s hand pointing right, because I couldn’t hear him, and I turned right, we gained speed and missed them by less than a metre.
“I lost a lot of sleep last night thinking about how close it was, but that’s racing and these are the stakes.”
Winning told the tale in response to Comanche’s irresistible favouritism for this year’s Sydney to Hobart.
“We can’t get complacent, we can’t get comfortable because when we do, that’s when mistakes will happen,” he said.
Skipper John Winning and crew of maxi yacht Comanche celebrate Tuesday’s Big Boat Challenge win.Credit: Janie Barrett
“With two 100-footers that weigh 30 tonnes each, we came within a metre of our two masts hitting at a very high pace. It could’ve been really bad, and I take full responsibility for how close it was.
“These are big, fast dangerous boats with low visibility and big, powerful sails. It takes a lot of very, very good sailors and experienced people to make it all come together and seem seamless.
“When it’s not seamless, it’s a disaster. The people on one side assumed the other side knew what they were saying, but the words weren’t coming clear because there’s loud winches, engines and five people yelling all at once.
“We had really bad comms on our boat and I put my hand up as a skipper to say, ‘It’s got to be better than that’ and ‘I take responsibility’. It was a definite wake-up call.”
LawConnect will be Comanche’s main challenger following back-to-back second-place finishes this week ahead of 2021 Sydney to Hobart winner Black Jack.
The near-collision aside, LawConnect owner and skipper Christian Beck is quietly chuffed with his crew’s progress, if resigned to bride’s maids duties again when the Boxing Day race kicks off.
“If Comanche wasn’t here we’d be looking really good right now, but they are here, so we have to make the best of that situation,” Beck said.
“In this Sydney to Hobart, we can only really win if Herman makes a mistake, but we live in hope of that; otherwise we’ll probably come second.
“I’ve made a few mistakes,” Winning quipped straight back.
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