2018 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: The Race Committee has lodged a protest against Wild Oats XI

[mad]

Just seen this facebook post from one of the crew on wild oats. 

Saddened by the fact a few of my old mates would have thought we would use our AIS system onboard to our advantage by turning it off during the great race.
The fact is the system got fried when our onboard cameraman went live at the start, we had no idea at all during the race till we finished .
The Wild Oats team is one of the best loyalist teams I have sailed with in my whole sailing career .

Nice find, shame it didn’t come out when hitting the dock and a quick discussion between boats. 

 

[jack_sparrow]

And I never tire of jack sparrow whining. 

What am I whining about?? Hint think carefully about that.

 

[random]

Just seen this facebook post from one of the crew on wild oats. 

Saddened by the fact a few of my old mates would have thought we would use our AIS system onboard to our advantage by turning it off during the great race.
The fact is the system got fried when our onboard cameraman went live at the start, we had no idea at all during the race till we finished .
The Wild Oats team is one of the best loyalist teams I have sailed with in my whole sailing career .

Oh look another NZ whitewashing the media.

So that means that they were guilty of not reporting a failure of a mandatory system to Race Control.  That's cheating.

 

[jack_sparrow]

Nice find, shame it didn’t come out when hitting the dock and a quick discussion between boats. 

Come on Mad..you haven't suddenly grown floppy ears?

 

[mad]

Come on Mad..you haven't suddenly grown floppy ears?

There may have been a hint of sarcasm in the last part of my comment. 

 

[jack_sparrow]

There may have been a hint of sarcasm in the last part of my comment. 

This shit makes Larry the Lizard look like a choir boy. I have never ever seen something like this contrived crap occur both on and off water ever in over 40 years. Why a team that is arguably world's best stoops to this gutter level totally fuckin escapes me.

 

[olaf hart]

Nice find, shame it didn’t come out when hitting the dock and a quick discussion between boats. 

Maybe it did, any publicity is good publicity...

 

[bayboy]

This shit makes Larry the Lizard look like a choir boy. I have never ever seen something like this contrived crap occur both on and off water ever in over 40 years. Why a team that is arguably world's best stoops to this gutter level totally fuckin escapes me.

Rothmans docked 10% for flying advertising

 

[jack_sparrow]

Maybe it did, any publicity is good publicity...

Yep great publicity. I'm off to the bottle shop tomorrow to buy a case of their Wild Oats CheatinChardonay. The advert said "take a sip and you will forget AIS".

Do you think that was a misprint and it should be just AA??

 

[mad]

Yep great publicity. I'm off to the bottle shop tomorrow to buy a case of their Wild Oats CheatinChardonay. The advert said "take a sip and you will forget AIS".

Do you think that was a misprint and it should be just AA??

Maybe there’s going to be case offer when they win 12, one from each year? 

 

[sunseeker]

Yep great publicity. I'm off to the bottle shop tomorrow to buy a case of their Wild Oats CheatinChardonay. The advert said "take a sip and you will forget AIS".

Do you think that was a misprint and it should be just AA??

Somebody ought to come up with a knock off brand “Mild Goats Piss Wine”

 

[jack_sparrow]

Rothmans docked 10% for flying advertising

Good reference being same RC didn't see a thing, but was told third hand and came out all guns blazing and Lawrie was fucked before he even hit the dock. That said 25 years or so ago RRS have changed re protests.

 

[bayboy]

Maybe theirs going to be case offer when they win 12, one from each year? 

You should work for their marketing department Mad, genius for them.

 

[olaf hart]

Yep great publicity. I'm off to the bottle shop tomorrow to buy a case of their Wild Oats CheatinChardonay. The advert said "take a sip and you will forget AIS".

Do you think that was a misprint and it should be just AA??

The race story moved from the back pages to front pages across the world.

The general punter has no idea what an AIS is, and doesn’t care.

And besides, I don’t know any sailors who would buy WO Chardonnay before this race, do you?

 

[Rain Man]

That is what I thought.  All we know for sure is the bias of the poster.  It's hard (but not impossible) to imagine a viable explanation that exonerates WOXI but because the protest was never tested we will not know any facts found.  WOXI will be condemned with certainty in the online Court of Sailing Anarchy even though the whole (true?) story is unknown and her crew also never having a chance at vindication in a Protest Hearing.

I was struck by the irony of how some of those here could be so certain of intentional treachery, who indignantly held up the RRS and even named the rules transgressed suddenly, in the same breath, in the middle of a sentence were not longer willing to acknowledge the Rules when they disagreed with their narrative.

I feel a bit bad for WOXI.  They sailed a tough race and demonstrated again how great an all rounder that old boat is.  But for this Line Honours win they will live under a cloud because the issue was not resolved.  

I think we'll find out in the end what the real story is.  I bet most or all of the WOXI crew know what really happened and don't like the idea of having to avoid answering "the question" every time they walk into the bar from now on.  We just have to be a bit patient and not jump to conclusions.  It has occurred to a few people that the lack of AIS transmissions coincides with the main being up on the boat.  The optics of this are pretty bad but it is too early to rule out an inadvertent error or technical failure.  Given that it is apparently normal practice within the rules to shut off AIS transmit while racing in other races, they might also have simply followed normal practice and forgotten that S2H is different.

The rain has finally stopped here in the PNW, and my sock drawer is fully arranged, so it is time to put the mouse down and go out and enjoy some fresh air!

 

[jack_sparrow]

Maybe there’s going to be case offer when they win 12, one from each year? 

I was actually very partial a trillion years ago to Rosemount wines that Bob kicked off, then sold did very very well and his boat program, let's buy an island for the idiot son etc program went up a notch or two.

The Wild Oats label he started post that unfortunately is absolute cats piss. I think their market was China though.

 

[LB 15]

And there is work going on here too.  Controlling the message on social media including forums.

Sticks our like dogballs.

To Hamilton Island Yacht Club.

Attention Mr Sandy Oatley.

Dear Sandy, it has been brought to my Attention that your are paying people on sailing forums to protect your brand- kind of shills for big Shiraz. I have been a WO fanboy for many years and have been defending your boat and Mark for all that time. I have the deepest respect for Mark Richards- I mean 9 wins in the S2H AND 4 world surfing titles is a unique achievement and MR is a living treasure. I am wondering if I could be paid for all my hard work as well? I don’t want money, just some free accomodation on the island, free sausage rolls from the HI bakery, one of those smart looking red WOXI caps and a dinner for to with Mark. Hope to hear from you soon, lots of love,

LB15.

 

[BBender]

Those bloody TV cameras fried Infrotracks ais transmission as well

 

[jack_sparrow]

And besides, I don’t know any sailors who would buy WO Chardonnay before this race, do you?

I think it is repackaged as anti freeze for common rail diesels in the US, but I'm not sure about that.

 

[mad]

Good reference being same RC didn't see a thing, but was told third hand and came out all guns blazing and Lawrie was fucked before he even hit the dock. That said 25 years or so ago RRS have changed re protests.

And back then it gained the race a huge amount of publicity.