Fatal Storm (3 page)

His ability to win in a wide range of boats – from dinghies to dayboats and ocean racers – brought Charles to the attention of yacht owners. His was a talent they craved. But Charles wasn’t into sailing just any old boat and he raced according to a time-honoured adage – to come second in a yacht race was like coming second in boxing. “It’s no use sailing some crummy old shitter,” he explained in plain terms to British journalist Bob Fisher in
1998. “That gets nobody anywhere.” Charles wanted boats with some potential that could be developed.

Olympic class sailing and offshore racing yachts soon became the mainstay of his life. He sailed for Britain four times in the Admiral’s Cup, the unofficial ocean racing team championship. In 1997 however, he would change camps and race for Australia.

Steve Kulmar, the skipper of the Mumm 36 class Australian Admiral’s Cup team yacht,
Sea
, and a veteran of 16 successfully completed Sydney to Hobarts and five Fastnet Races out of England, got to know Charles through prominent Sydney sailmaker and yachtsman Grant Simmer.

“I knew that as part of the Australian team, and wanting to do the best we possibly could, we would need some local knowledge for sailing on the waters of the Solent and off the coast of England,” said Kulmar. “The perfect situation would have been for us to carry both a local navigator and tactician, but we realised the weight of two extra people would dull our performance. So we ended up looking for somebody who could navigate and also had really good local knowledge and great tactical skills.

“Grant mentioned Glyn Charles and gave me his number. I called him. It was about two months before the series. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing he decided he would join us. He was an absolutely terrific person to have on the boat in that he would be there worrying all the time about making it go fast. He was always putting his heart and soul into it. We had a terrific series. Glyn was a very energetic guy on the yacht but laid-back in an almost Australian sort of way when on shore.”

Glyn Charles’ partner, Annie Goodman, was equally passionate about sailing. The comfortable cottage they shared in Bosham, on the shores of Chichester Harbour,
reflected a lifestyle closely aligned to the sea. It was a perfect base for both because it was central to much of England’s sailing activity.

Checking his emails one day, Charles found one from Steve Kulmar. Kulmar had committed to sailing on
Sword of Orion
in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart, and during some lead-up races it had become clear the crew needed more depth – someone who could comfortably slip into the role of tactician or supervisor.

“Ironically, I was talking to Grant Simmer again and he said Glyn was planning to come to Sydney to coach the British Olympic Soling contender, Andy Beadsworth, in preparation for the world championship,” Kulmar recollects. “So I emailed Glyn immediately and asked, ‘Are you interested in doing the Hobart?’ He said he’d have a think about it. Information went backwards and forwards and in the end he said, ‘OK, subject to final discussions in Sydney’.”

Charles met with Kulmar and
Sword of Orion
’s owner Rob Kothe at the CYC the morning he arrived from London – December 10. They talked at length and outlined their plans for the race. About two days later Charles agreed to race – but only in the Hobart because he had the Olympic Soling coaching program organised from December the 11th to the 22nd.

Glyn Charles already had four Fastnet Races to his credit. He had now committed to his first Hobart.

Well-known sailing figure, John “Steamer” Stanley, had done it all. At 51 years of age, he had been a champion in the famous 16-foot and 18-foot skiffs that race on Sydney Harbour. His keelboat experiences had led him to the Admiral’s Cup ocean racing championship in England, 16 Sydney to Hobarts, and the oldest trophy
in the history of sport, the America’s Cup. He had also had the pleasure of indulging a dream of so many other sailors – a cruise around the planet on a small yacht.

Steamer was a remarkable battler, both on and off the water. There was a touch of irony in that his nickname had come from the legendary “Stanley Steamer” steam engine, a machine known for its strength and reliability. He was born with two dislocated hips and for much of his life he didn’t walk, he hobbled. His condition was greatly improved after a dual hip replacement, but still he moved with a noticeable limp. More recently, his left kidney was removed after a cancerous tumour was found, then a malignant melanoma was taken from his arm. That would have been enough to slow most people, but just when things looked to be taking a turn for the better, in fact only months before the 1998 Hobart race, Steamer was found to have asbestosis on one lung – a direct result of his years working as a builder. “All I can say is that life can only get better,” he commented after hearing of his latest medical ailment.

His plan was to do another Hobart race, once again aboard the classic 55-foot cutter
Winston Churchill
, a yacht built in Hobart in 1942 by the legendary Percy Coverdale. It took its name from the great man himself – but only after Coverdale wrote to Churchill and received his written permission. After being used to service Tasmanian lighthouses during World War II, the yacht contested the inaugural Sydney to Hobart.

In 1959 a Bass Strait storm went close to claiming
Winston Churchill.
As the yacht crashed off a large wave, the mast was dislodged from its step and speared through the bottom of the hull. Owner Arthur Warner, a Victorian Government minister, saved the vessel by wrapping sails around the damaged hull and beaching it at the aptly-named Wreck Beach, near Wonthaggi.

Steamer was an authority on sailing in Australia and the vintage
Winston Churchill
held a special place in the history he loved to recount. That tie was strengthened when he worked on its restoration for six months in Sydney after it was purchased by Richard Winning in 1997. It was a labour of love as the traditionally planked wooden hull was returned to pristine condition, the Huon pine timbers stripped bare then repainted and the heavy timber mast replaced by a considerably lighter and slightly taller aluminium section. When
Winston Churchill
was relaunched she was nothing short of a magnificent tribute to yachting and yacht builders of bygone era.

Steamer saw
Winston Churchill
as “a real boat, a classic yacht; a yacht designed to go across the ocean.” It was the style of yacht he enjoyed racing: “Ocean racing as such is something I’m not really interested in these days. I’m not into sitting on the rail any more – those days are long gone. I like to enjoy my sailing with a bunch of mates.”

Richard Winning decided to enter his gleaming, meticulously-restored yacht in the 1997 Sydney to Hobart for the thrill of it. “We look at it as a bit of recreation,” he told
Business Review Weekly.
He added that
Winston Churchill
“will be here long after we have all gone.” John “Steamer” Stanley was at the head of the queue for a crew position. Winning had no hesitation in taking him; after all, he was a racing yachtsman, a seaman and a boatbuilding craftsman.

They were justifiably proud of their result that year, given that they raced with only one large headsail which had to be rolled up like a blind when the wind became too strong.
Winston Churchill
was 79th home in a fleet of 110 which included numerous arch rivals aboard similarly vintaged boats.
Winston Churchill
’s capabilities were greatly enhanced when it was fitted with new sails for the
1998 race. Steamer gathered the crew together when Winning confirmed right on the knock of closing date for entries that he did want to compete.

“I entered again just for the fun of doing it,” Winning said. “We planned to do it every year until we got too old.” Steamer assembled a group of sailors with considerable offshore experience. The crew included Jim Lawler and Bruce Gould, plus an enthusiastic 19-year-old, Michael “Beaver” Rynan, who worked weekends as a tender driver delivering crews to their yachts moored off Sydney’s Middle Harbour Yacht Club. To race to Hobart aboard
Winston Churchill
with the likes of John Stanley and others was, he told friends, “the chance of a lifetime.”

Yet again the grand old yacht was painstakingly prepared and by Christmas Eve the only thing left to do was buy the food and stock the galley. Winning and Steamer met at the marina at the northside suburb of Woolwich, borrowed a small open motor launch and headed for the waterfront supermarket at nearby Birkenhead Point. Shopping trolley after shopping trolley was loaded with the provisions needed to cater for the nine-man crew. As the little launch chugged back across the bay with its cargo, the two men chatted idly about the race and their plans for Christmas Day. Both intended to spend it with family and friends. Winning said he would go to the yacht late in the afternoon and touch up a couple of spots of varnish so the boat was positively glistening for the start.

More than 20 plastic bags filled with food and the essential utensils for cooking were stowed in
Winston Churchill
’s galley. This done, the grand old lady was gently motored across to the CYC’s marina, attracting considerable attention as she went. This was after all the famous
Winston Churchill
, replete with gleaming cream
topsides, timber made bright with many liberal coats of varnish, and a trim and tidy rig.

Docking complete, Winning and Steamer headed for the bar on the club’s lower deck. It was packed with families, friends and of course excited and eager sailors. Many wore caps indicating that they’d raced overseas, done the Hobart before or simply that their yacht had a major sponsor; the faded red Mount Gay Rum caps were among the real collector’s items. Present also were a large group of “punters” who had just come to ogle, and several young ladies – “racer chasers” – who were keen to meet the competitors.

Winning and Steamer met up with sailing rival Don Mickleborough and some of his crew and enjoyed a few beers and plenty of laughs. Later, the pair headed for Winning’s Vaucluse home where they would enjoy a Christmas Eve dinner with his wife, Stephanie, and the children.

After dinner, Steamer headed back to the yacht to sleep. He would take a cab home the next morning then go on for Christmas Day drinks at Richard “Sightie” Hammond’s with Mickleborough and other competitors, followed by Christmas lunch with his mother, Eve, and “all the mob”.

Julie Hodder wanted an ocean racing yacht while her husband, Kerry, wanted a Porsche. The end result was that on Boxing Day 1998 Julie set sail in the 54th Sydney to Hobart as one of three owners of the 50-footer
Foxtel-Titan Ford.
Her husband was driving a family sedan at the time.

“He tolerates the yacht,” remarked the dark-haired 45 year old. “I think he likes keeping me happy. When we discussed our options – the yacht or the Porsche – we
figured the car was not really an option because there’s not a lot you can do with it. Mind you, he’s now starting to wonder about the yacht. The first ocean race he ever did with us was in the Brisbane to Gladstone race not long after we bought the yacht. We almost sank. Then the yacht was just about wrecked when it hit a reef in the Whitsunday Islands.”

The couple had returned to Australia a few years earlier after a successful business foray into Hong Kong and had bought a comfortable home with alluring waterviews at Clontarf in Sydney’s north. It wasn’t long before Julie was back among the friendly and familiar faces at the local Middle Harbour Yacht Club, eager to get into sailing once again.

She came from a sailing family and one of her prized possessions was a fading black-and-white photograph of herself with her father sailing across the English Channel when she was just six months old. Soon after that photo was taken the family moved to Australia and established a home near the shores of Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney. There were very few women actively involved in offshore racing when Julie began. She soon outgrew the sailing dinghy scene on Lake Macquarie, and leapt at the chance to join the crew of a small, Junior Offshore Group racer.

Years later Julie Hodder would return to sailing in England in grand style – as the only female among a crew of 29 aboard the maxi yacht
Condor
for the Fastnet Race. That was 1981 – two years after the disastrous 1979 event that saw an Irish Sea gale take the lives of 15 sailors.

“It was a wonderful life aboard the maxi for two great years. I really loved it. Mind you, cooking for 28 guys when we were racing was quite a challenge. I enjoyed the long delivery trips more than the actual racing. Two months at sea to me is just an ideal thing. You get into your own regime…great camaraderie; no hassles of
traffic; no hassled people; no news.” The long trips also allowed Julie to expand and consolidate her navigational skills. She envisaged one day being the navigator on an ocean going yacht and held a dream of owning an offshore racer.

Back in Australia, Julie served her apprenticeship as an understudy navigator and general crewmember aboard
Diamond Cutter
, one of the more competitive yachts out of Middle Harbour Yacht Club. She was rewarded with wins in the club’s offshore championship and a Brisbane to Gladstone race.

“Navigating was certainly the way to go for me,” said Julie. “I love ocean racing but I hate sitting on deck and getting wet. I like doing anything on the yacht where I can actually move. Even the cooking appeals. You don’t need great big strong muscles to go and navigate. There are two other pluses for me – I don’t get seasick and I love dabbling with computers and electronics. So navigation’s the ideal job.”

It was almost inevitable that the Sydney to Hobart would become part of her offshore sailing agenda and by the 1998 event she was a veteran of no fewer than five races.

After returning from Hong Kong, Julie sailed on a number of yachts, mainly in distance events. She also participated along with hundreds of other sailors mid-week in the summer twilight “beer can” races. It was during these Wednesday night races that she and the former world 18-foot skiff champion, Peter Sorensen, began discussing the possibility of buying an offshore race yacht.