Zephyr set to breeze through yacht race in comfort
Ian Johnson and the crew of local boat Zephyr are guaranteed a win in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race even before the gun set the fleet on its way at 1pm on Boxing Day.
Johnson’s yacht is the first Farr 41Mx-design New Zealand-built yacht to tackle the race, so no matter how fast or slow they go, it will set the benchmark for future skippers of the same type of yacht.
“Only seven of these boats were built and most of them went to Hong Kong and Thailand, and there’s one in Hawaii,” Johnson said.
“There has been none of this type of boat in the SydneyHobart ever before, so we had to do a lot of work to get it to comply with race regulations.
“So we will win the Farr 41Mx category and we’ll hold the Farr 41Mx record.”
Zephyr’s crew embodies the philosophy of the race when it started in 1945 as a “cruise in company”.
“We’re just a wonderful bunch of friends and family, a lot of us mix socially and have sailed together a lot over the past few years,” Johnston said.
“So I am very confident in the group.”
Zephyr is also known for its creature comforts. “All the other race yachts stir us _ if they are beside us they will say ‘what roast have you got on today?’ because it’s very wellappointed,” Johnston said.
“We’ve got a lovely oven and kitchen set-up and it’s quite a comfortable sailing boat.”
Having said that, the menu for the 628 nautical mile Hobart is not that mouth-watering.
“We are going for race food so we are taking a selection of freeze-dried bush walking food,” Johnston said.
“Because we are going with a crew of 10, space will be an issue so we’re trying to minimise the amount of space we need for food.”
Zephyr is yet to be allocated its Sydney-Hobart race division. “We punch quite well in division one down here among some of the hot race boats and often get good positions on IRC handicap and ORC as well,” Johnston said.
“Our goal is to do well on IRC and get home safely.
“There’s also a team’s event called the Southern Cross Cup, and it consists of us, Kraken and Alive, so we’ve got to pull our weight.
“We’re in a different division to them, and we’re a more cruisy boat.
“But our handicap reflects that.”
Johnson did his only other Sydney-Hobart on a different boat in the 70th event in 2014.