Old campaigner’s new challenge

A FAMOUS boat launched 15 years before the Sydney to Hobart started will finally tick the iconic Australian race off her latest owners’ to-do list.

Just over half the length of supermaxi LDV Comanche, another race entrant from the United States, Dorade has contested almost all of the other great ocean events in her 87year history.

Built in 1930, she took line honours in the 1931 Transatlantic, the 1931 and 33 Fastnet and the 1936 Transpacific races.

“When the boat was shipped back after that TransAtlantic race it had a tickertape parade in New York, in Manhattan,” skipper Kevin Miller said.

“This was quite a ground- breaking boat when it was designed and launched in the 1930s and it beat boats that were almost twice as big. There’s something intangible about these old wooden boats and in particular this one.”

Owners Matt Brooks and Pam Rorke Levy want to take their boat into different waters and challenges.

“So far, we’ve been competing mainly in races where Dorado was victorious back in the 1930s,” they said. “Now we’re looking for new challenges ... and there’s no bigger challenge in the world of sailing.”

The boat has contested several races and posted good results since arriving in Australia in July and has undergone extensive modifications to prepare her for the rigours of a Sydney Hobart.

“The list was extensive because we knew the rough seas that are typical of this race, we knew to take our preparation to whole another level,” Miller said.

Dorade’s crew includes renowned Australian navigator Adrienne Cahalan, who will extend her record for most Hobart races by a female to 26.

Miller has one extra thing to consider compared to skip- per aboard more modern boats. “Primarily manoeuvring, particularly on the start line,” he said. “When we’re sailing against modern boats they respond much more quickly. When you get next to them they expect you to respond in a certain way and we just can’t. We have to make sure we give other boats a wide berth.”