How two shocking deaths just hours apart have added to the Sydney to Hobart race’s dark past
Tragically, history is repeating itself at the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, with two deaths on the first day of this year’s competition, adding to the iconic national sporting event’s deadly past.
Nick Smith, 65, was killed while racing on the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron boat, Bowline, about 2am on Friday.
He was struck by the boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail, about 30 nautical miles east/northeast of Batemans Bay, and fell unconscious.
Smith was the second sailor to die in this year’s race after 55-year-old Western Australian man Roy Quaden was killed after he was also struck by the boom on board Flying Fish Arctos about two hours earlier.
Aussies will likely remember the infamous 1998 race, in which six people lost their lives when wild conditions – including 20-metre waves – caused total carnage in the field.
Only 44 of the 115 competing yachts finished at Apple Isle, with most forced to turn back rather than risk their lives.
Nick Smith, 65, was tragically killed around 2am on Friday while racing on the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron boat, Bowline, while competing in the Sydney to Hobart race.
Smith was struck approximately 30 nautical miles east/northeast of Batemans Bay and could not be revived with CPR (photo, Bowline at the start of this year’s race)
The death of sailor Roy Quaden aboard Flying Fish Arctos occurred about 30 nautical miles east-southeast of Ulladulla on the south-west coast shortly before midnight on Thursday (the yacht’s sail boom is circled)
With a second man killed this year, the tragedies brought back memories of the 1998 race, where waves of up to 20 meters crashed onto the field (pictured)
One of the boats completely swept away was the Winston Churchill, whose nine-man crew was literally forced to abandon ship.
John Dean lost contact with his life raft and his body was never found, with James Lawler and Michael Bannister suffering the same fate.
In the same grim year, Bruce Guy (Business Post Naiad) suffered a heart attack, Phil Skeggs (Business Post Naiad) drowned and Glyn Charles (Sword of Orion) was swept overboard after his safety harness failed.
His body was never found.
Veteran sailor John ‘Steamer’ Stanley was aboard the doomed Winston Churchill in 1998 and recalled the deafening waves in an interview.
Strong winds and 60-foot waves hit their boat, forcing the crew onto life rafts.
“We were going up… we were obviously traveling up a big wave, a huge wave, and it broke and then I just hung there, held my breath and that seemed to last a long, long time,” he told Channel. Nine is a current issue in 2018.
A pair of inflatable rafts that Stanley and his crew fled on proved invaluable, as three of Stanley’s friends were killed.
John Stanley’s ship Winston Churchill (pictured) was completely engulfed by the ocean during the deadly 1998 race
“I shouted, ‘Are you all there?’ and I only heard one person answer,” Stanley said.
Fast forward to 2024, and despite better racing protocols being in place, there is still a sense of sporting déjà vu.
Following the tragedy, Flying Fish Arctos was escorted to Jervis Bay by the NSW Police Vessel Nemesis, while Bowline was escorted to Batemans Bay.
Cruising Yacht Club Australia Commodore David Jacobs spoke for many when he said ‘everyone is devastated’.
“It’s a terrible tragedy,” he added.
Of a total fleet of 104, sixteen boats have now been retired.
Ominously, a west-southwesterly change is expected to hit Bass Strait overnight, with winds up to 40 knots and possible showers – conditions that will be particularly challenging for the smaller boats in the fleet.