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Broken toes and cracked keels won’t stop some doughty international sailors from contesting this year’s Sydney to Hobart race.
The largest contingent of overseas boats in recent years will attack the famous race, with 11 of the 100 entrants hailing from foreign parts.
It wouldn’t be unkind to say the import contingent boasts greater quantity than quality than in recent years.
None of the visitors from nine different countries appear quick enough to challenge for line honours or emulate the overall handicap victory of American boat Rosebud last year.
However, there can be no doubting the tenacity of some of the international competitors who have had to contend with personal and mechanical set backs to contest the 2008 event.
Ian Darby, the owner and skipper of Scottish based 47ft boat Jus’do It 3, will head south on Boxing Day despite suffering two broken toes in a freak accident in Sydney just a few days ago.
A rock fell on his foot breaking the toes after he lifted a sail off a wall.
“We’re not going to let it stop the race, it will take three or four weeks to heal, lots of pain killers and I will be alright,” Darby said.
A handful of Russian sailors will be aboard the 37ft Getaway Sailing 2, after refusing to accept they wouldn’t compete following the withdrawal of their maxi Trading Network/Alye Parusa.
The 85ft boat was ruled out of the race after cracks were discovered in its keel during a check in Auckland last month.
Determined to participate in the iconic race, the Russians scored a ride south on a boat less than half the length of their wounded vessel.
“We had two choices, to go on this boat or not to go at all,” said Dimitry Moshkov, one of the Russian sailors.
“We don’t know what will happen next year because of the financial crisis and our jobs, that’s why we’re not wasting time and we can not make plans for next year, we will do it right now.
“This is the Everest of sailing.”
While all of the Russian sailors speak some English, the Sydney-based skipper of the boat, Jay Pettifer, has had to do a crash course in the language of his new crew mates.
“I’ve had to learn a lot of Russian words, my Russian vocabulary has gone up a long way, ” Pettifer said.
“Words for port and starboard and the most important one is the one that means `hurry up’.”
The overseas contingent also includes two boats from the Netherlands and New Zealand, another from the United Kingdom and one each from New Caledonia, France, Switzerland, Germany and the United States.
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