24/10/2013
The following is a robust conversation on the inclusion of Tasmania (or lack of) in the ‘Ocean Race Around Australia’ that we would like to share. We thank Scott Gilbert, a very experienced yachtsman, for agreeing to us publishing the following conversation.
Dear Sir,
It is with great disappointment that I see you are referring to this race as "Around Australia".
It is beyond understanding how you can call it this when the course does not include Tasmania. Could it be that you are not aware that Tasmania is in fact a state of Australia? I suspect by advertising the race as you have would constitute false advertising.
And to be so insensitive as to not include Tasmania on the map of the course at all really does imply a deep disregard for all Australians and particularly Tasmanians.
I sincerely hope this bizarre omission can be rectified in the near future, so as to prevent further disrespect to a great state which has a deep history in sailing. I strongly suspect many people, not only yachtsman, will be offended by this lack of foresight on the part of the race organisers.
Regards
Scott Gilbert.
Dear Scott,
Thank you for your email.
The 'Ocean Race Around Australia' event is some 5 years in the making.
At the outset we had intended to round the bottom of Tasmania and include Hobart as a stopover port.
It was after a series of conversations with competitors in the 1988 Around Australia race, reading an account of that race and conversations with flag officers of the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria, people very familiar with racing the east and west coast of Tasmania, that we reluctantly determined that the event should not round the bottom of Tasmania.
We determined to make King Island a mark of the revised course and in doing so make some attempt to include Tasmania in the event.
We were strongly advised not to put a race fleet on the west cost of Tasmania in early August and again in mid October as it was considered to be too dangerous for the race fleet both monohulls and multihulls.
It was impossible for us to ignore this advice.
I hope you will agree that the consequences of us ignoring this advice (be it right or wrong) and there being a tragedy as a result would be dire.
We have always maintained that the ORAA event would be a feeder for boats in the Sydney-Hobart race. The CYCA recognise this.
Our event finishes in Sydney in early November. We are promoting to international entrants that they can come to the southern hemisphere and compete in the ORAA and then go on and do the S-H Race making the journey 'down-under' more compelling and their experience of Australia complete.
It is not our intention to slight Tasmania.We have deep respect for Tasmanian sailors and all things Tasmanian.
I went to school in Hobart. I did five S-H races and I know how great Hobart and Tasmania is.
Not showing Tasmania on our current race map is an oversight that we will correct.
I would welcome the opportunity to have a conversation with you.
Kind Regards,
Bob Williams
Dear Bob
I appreciate your response.
As you have probably guessed I am a Tasmanian, but now live in Sydney. It does frustrate me when I see Tasmania left off the map and that was the primary point of my email. So thank you for agreeing to rectify that.
In regards to the actual race I have my personal thoughts on that.
I understand your reasoning behind not sending the fleet around Tasmania, however I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment. I also understand you need to protect yourselves in the event of something going tragically wrong.
Personally I struggle with the concept of trying to limit the risk in an offshore race. My thoughts are that conditions can be dangerous on almost any part of this race course. But I do acknowledge the west coast of Tasmania can be prone to severe weather.
Having sailed and raced the west coast of Tasmania on numerous occasions and fished it professionally I certainly understand it can be perilous at times.
It's an old argument but I believe if someone chooses to sail/race offshore then they should expect to encounter, and be capable of withstanding severe weather. That has always been my attitude when sailing offshore, and I have done so extensively.
Something else to consider is that there have possibly been more wrecks and lives lost off King Island than the rest of the west coast of Tasmania.
So for what it's worth my personnel view is that Tasmania should be included but I respect your decision to omit it.
The only other point I would like to make is that I question the accuracy of calling it "Ocean Race Around Australia".
It certainly sounds better than "Ocean Race Around Mainland Australia" or similar but its not really an accurate description!
I don't know what you could do about it though...
Thanks again for getting back to me and good luck. Everything else aside yacht racing is fortunate to have people such as yourself who are prepared to put in the great effort required to organise a new event such as this. The sport needs more of it.
Kind regards
Scott Gilbert
