Officious Little Turds Give The Sydney To Hobart Race A Bad Smell

Reading right through the SMH article on Wild Thing’s exclusion from this year’s Sydney to Hobart Race, it’s hard to see Howard Piggott and Tim Cox from race organizers, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) as anything other than the villains of the piece.

Race director, Tim Cox (with CYCA Commodore Howard Piggott’s full support) excluded Wild Thing from this year’s race because of inadequate documentation. Specifically, it appears the contentious issue is that modifications recently made to the boat had to be signed off by a naval architect that they were in accordance with American Bureau of Shipping guidelines.

Wild Thing skipper Grant Wharington says that his boat’s documentation contains a report from a naval architect which states: “the modification falls within the minimum scope of the ABS guide”.

Could a person acting in good faith interpret that statement as not complying with the race regulations? Not in my opinion.

Howard Piggott and Tim Cox said accusations of their bias against big boats are “nonsense”, however their denials don’t appear to be supported by the evidence. To throw a boat out of an important race on a technicality smacks of ill will and petty officiousness. Additionally, why would the CYCA race committee itself lodge protests against both the 2010 and 2011 winners, unless it really is run by petty fuckwits with an axe to grind, as Grant Wharington is implying?

Perhaps they really don’t like the big boats coming and winning. However, it’s the big boats which attract the TV coverage, the sponsorship dollars and the prestige.

What about all the crew who were looking forward to sailing in the race? All the time, money and effort which was spent getting the boat to Sydney and ready for the race? What effect will it have on the race’s reputation (and hence economic benefit to Sydney and Hobart) if people think it’s run by a cabal of petty minded twits?

People of genuine substance would have considered that an adverse decision would ruin the season for the crew, as well as the larger economic picture. Only hollow, little men rely on technical points to use their positions to ruin events for others.

That’s what I think is at the heart of this episode: jumped up, little nobodies pretending to have power. What the race needs is organizers who believe it is about the sailors, not making mean spirited decisions and then trying to hide behind some bogus safety regulations or similar.

Should any of this matter to government in a liberal society?

Yes, if the race brings in tourist dollars and generates employment and tax revenue, which it does.

If government tourism agencies provide assistance to the race, the Ministers for Sport and Tourism should have a say in how it is run, even if that support is only in kind, such as marketing. Perhaps the government should threaten to withdraw its support from the race organizers, even offering it to a rival Sydney yacht club to hold their own race. I’m sure any trademarks can be worked around. The state could afford the loss of revenue for a couple of years more than the CYCA can.

Ludicrously, the race committee offered to “allow” Wild Thing to sail with the race, but not actually compete in it, probably because they knew they couldn’t prevent the crew sailing down to Hobart anyway.

Rather than pull out, I’d have liked to see Wild Thing tell the CYCA to get fucked, start say, fifteen minutes behind (since there would be some official exclusion zone for non-racing boats around the starting line), then sail for Hobart as fast as possible. What a farce it would have rendered the race had they beaten the “official” winner.