FAMILY AFFAIR FOR RACE CREW

SOME families need a break from each other after Christmas, but it’s not the case for one crew tackling the Launceston to Hobart yacht race.

Sundowner owners, Derwent Sailing Squadron members Tom Stearnes and partner Alice Bugg, set off the voyage from near Beauty Point on Tuesday with Tom’s sister, Grace Stearnes, mother Lisa Guy and stepfather Pat Hyman also part of the crew.

It means there’ll be no ‘buffer zone’ for nearly two days as they make their way down the Bass Strait, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“We want to do well, but it’s about doing it with family and great friends. We’re all really close and been sailing together for years,” Guy said. “We’ve sailed together in various boats. We know how each other works, we complement each other.”

Sundowner last competed in a big event in the late nineties, and Tom Stearnes has put in ‘thousands’ of hours renovating the boat to get it race ready.

Stearnes is a two-time winner of the Launceston to Hobart and also claimed divisional podium honours in his two Sydney to Hobart attempts in 2013 and 2016.

“It’s nervous excitement, I guess,” he said on race morning.

“There’s been a lot of big changes on the boat, but we’ve done everything we can to make it as safe as possible.

“It’s all been repainted, we’ve lengthened the boom, made the mast shorter, repainted everything, refed all underneath the bottom, there’s not a whole lot that’s original.

“It’s been ten months working weekends and nights, thousands of hours.”

Stearnes is optimistic they will compete for the overall crown, but said Fork in the Road is an unbackable favourite for line honours.

The first boat is expected to arrive in Hobart on Wednesday evening, with Sundower aiming to lob at an ‘ungodly hour’ early Thursday morning.

“You’re always aiming to win but the weather forecast might not be best for this style of boat. It’s downwind and this boat is quite heavy compared to some others,” he said. Still and hot conditions greeted crews for the start outside of the Tamar River, but the elements were set to improve.

“It’s a pretty slow start but we should have some good breeze by the time we get to the corner and a good run down the coast,” Bugg said.

Tom Stearnes, who will celebrate his 30th birthday with Hobart’s New Year’s Eve fireworks on December 31, said they all have different strengths.

“I like to think I’m the steerer but I”m the bowman, Grace will do the pit and mum will do most of the steering,” he said.

Grace Stearnes said they’ll be doing what they can to try and beat the rest of the nine boat fleet, the smallest in the race’s history, but it’s secondary to the enjoyment they get racing as a family.

“Tom keeps telling everyone we’ll be a shoo-in for a top ten position,” she said.

“And we get mum and Pat’s cooking. Thai green curry, lasagne, chicken and corn soup and apple crumble.”