In 11 days time, Wollongong’s Ty Oxley will line up for his 16th Sydney to Hobart.
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Given Oxley’s experience on the water and resume that includes two line honours victories, you could be forgiven for thinking each year would get that little bit easier. To Oxley, however, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Instead, Oxley is expecting the 2018 edition of the race to be the toughest yet.
With five supermaxis lining up on the start line for the first time, rapidly evolving technology making these boats harder to sail and the threat of dangerous weather constantly hovering over the competitors, Oxley knows it’s not going to be a simple cruise to Constitution Dock.
“It’s a great race, the challenge is unique every year, the weather can change in the blink of an eye,” Oxley said. “This year is very special, with five 100 footers on the start line. It’s going to be very challenging this year, every boat’s a little bit different, so it’s anyone’s race.
“This is the first year with five 100 footers all racing at once. You don’t get that anywhere else in the world, to have five 100 footers all in the one place at the same time.”
Oxley’s InfoTrack crossed the finish line in fourth position in 2017, however a penalty for the late submission of a declaration form saw the team fall to 24th place.
Coming on the back of his victory on the same boat in 2016, then known as Perpetual Loyal, Oxley admits the result was a big disappointment.
However with a completely overhauled crew and improvements made to the boat, the real estate agent is confident they will be right in the mix in this year’s edition.
“We’re a completely new team, we’ve got a great bunch of sailors, we’ve done a lot of work on the boat this year, we have new sails as well, so it will be very different to last year.”
The 2017 edition of the race was taken out by Comanche in controversial fashion, with first past the post Wild Oats XI stripped of line honours due to an incident inside Sydney Harbour.
With five supermaxis dueling it out for line honours, Oxley views the defending champions as his team’s biggest threat.
“The outcome is very much weather dependent, each one of the 100 footers has different conditions that suit their boat. We’re hoping for plenty of breeze, we have a good team of Ocean Race sailors who are very experienced, so for us, the rougher it is, the better it will be.
“Comanche will definitely be very quick. They have a similar sort of boat to us, so if the conditions suit us, they will suit them as well. Comanche are the biggest one to look out for at the moment.”
Oxley’s crew had a close look at three of their rivals on Tuesday, when four of the five supermaxis contested the Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour. Having contested a busy racing schedule in recent weeks, Comanche opted to sit out of the race, which was ultimately taken out by Wild Oats XI.
With very limited breeze around, and conditions fairly flat, the InfoTrack boat struggled to match it with Wild Oats XI, however Oxley was pleased with the way his teammates operated in the circumstances.
“It was tough, with the wind being under 10 knots, it really didn’t suit us. But the people and boat work was top notch, I can’t fault what we did, they just weren’t the right conditions.”