Every time she started to come up, another gust would knock us down again. It built very quickly to 30 knots of wind speed, then 40, then 50. Skipper Ed Psaltis says the nightmare of the 1998 race is never far from his mind.Credit:David Salter, Not surprisingly, Ed Psaltis closely followed the coronial inquiry that investigated the 1998 Sydney to Hobart deaths. Midnight Rambler triumphed against atrocious conditions to win the 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race. We trained very hard. Midnight Rambler has claimed her second victory in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Ocean Point Score's (OPS), taking out the Port Hacking Race this afternoon, beating firm favourite, About Time, to the punch by four minutes on corrected time to snaffle the series lead from Julian Farren-Price's champion Cookson 12. Twenty years after surviving that tragic storm, Psaltis, now 57 and running an accountancy practice, still races his own boats to Hobart every year. After 20 hours, the constant screaming noise of the storm was suddenly gone. Visit the CYCA Online Store today where you will find the latest range of men's and women's Club clothing exclusively manufactured by Musto and a range of official merchandise. "During the last two hours I'd come to the end of my tether," Psaltis says. I'll certainly keep doing it. The spray was like bullets in your face. As a team, the seven of us together beat that gale. I remember thinking, 'How the f… did we ever get ourselves into this?' The next radio check of positions confirmed that Midnight Rambler was now holding a surprising 6th place on handicap. IOR 36. Designer's Comments. Psaltis, who has re-located from Sydney to Tasmania, has entered Midnight Rambler in the Derwent Sailing Squadron’s Autumn Short-Handed Series 2019, which starts on the River Derwent on Sunday morning. It's part of my life – and I'm still dreaming of that second victory.". Hobart’s yacht racing fleet has a prominent newcomer, 1998 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race overall winning skipper Ed Psaltis with his Sydney 36, Midnight Rambler. The Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands List of Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race winners (64 words) [view diff] exact match in snippet view article find links to article Like many successful offshore yachtsmen, it's not in his nature to apportion blame when natural forces trigger a disaster. If you are looking to buy a yacht «MIDNIGHT RAMBLER» or need additional information on the purchase price of this HINCKLEY, please call: +1-954-274-4435 (USA) What used to be a mid-sized boat in the Hobart race is now the second smallest boat out there, but to the Rambler Syndicate, 36 feet is just fine. All their electrics were knocked out in that one moment. The Morna Cup, a sterling silver cup, was presented to the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in 1913 by former Commodore Sir Alexander MacCormick and named after his yacht. Posted on 23 Nov 2020 Hobart Combined Clubs Summer Pennant Series race 3 Surviving the 1998 Sydney to Hobart superstorm, Midnight Rambler facing the 1998 conditions. Psaltis and his crew knew they were doing very well, and were determined to hold onto that advantage. WATCH | Member Arthur Psaltis recounts surviving the 1998 Sydney Hobart. 02/11/2020. '; 'The waves don't seem quite as big now'; 'Look over there – the clouds are starting to break'; that sort of thing. "More than 75 knots, huge seas and deafening noise. "As 10-year-olds, we'd design and build little two-foot models of famous ocean-racing yachts of the time, like Ragamuffin. We went out in storms to practise sail changes. He's a big bugger, so I didn't feel inclined to argue. "The teamwork on board was always like that. Midnight Rambler and Frontline all Class in the Combined Clubs Long Race Saturday's Combined Clubs Summer Pennant fleet struggled in desperately light winds at the mid-river start in conditions more suited to paddling a kayak than sailing a yacht. By a mixture of good luck and good management, our crew was just about the perfect blend of experience and character to cope with the drama that was about to hit us. With 16 Sydney to Hobarts already behind him, Psaltis was at the peak of his physical and mental condition as an offshore sailor. Boxing Day dawned hot but clear over the mainland harbour city for the start of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race. Crew consists of a core of six who have campaigned in Hobarts over 28 years now on those seven boats. "Yeah, I still think about it a fair bit, but in a positive way. From that point, none of us slept or even went below. Boxing Day this year will see him heading south for the 37th time. 11 talking about this. "It's going to be very hard in Bass Strait, so get ready for a nasty one," he told skipper Ed Psaltis. "We were knocked down flat, but this time the boat just couldn't seem to right herself. Psaltis was faced with a tough choice. The temperature and barometric pressure were plummeting. But there were already signs of adverse conditions further south. To my mind, races like the Sydney to Hobart are a chance to maintain the spirit of adventure, of 'having a go'. In late November 1998, then aged 37, he bought Chutzpah, a fibreglass sloop that had been winning strong events in Victoria. This was just the eye of the storm. Midnight Rambler is on 4 points on IRC, 3 points clear of both Intrigue (Don Calvert) and Fork in the Road (Gary Smith). Yacht location: USA. Psaltis was a junior sailor with the Hunters Hill Sailing Club and sailed in his first Sydney to Hobart as a 17-year-old. Both times the little boat just jumped back up and kept going, showing how strong she was. In addition to the club clothing, other items include club caps, ties, burgees, cufflinks, belts, key rings and wallets. We managed to get the sail down and the boat eventually righted itself. Shaun Tiedemann, (Philosopher), Greg Prescott (2 Unlimited), Phil Turner (Alive) and Ed Psaltis (Midnight Rambler) are in the running to win the race overall and have their name engraved on the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s famous Tattersall Cup, awarded to the overall winner each year. The team came first, yourself second. There was a very volatile low forming. The breeze wasn't letting up and I really thought we weren't going to make it. It could have moderated or it could have intensified. Another 10 minutes later it had become 60 knots of howling, snarling southerly. Crosbie Lorimer had a closer look freshwater cooled inboard Diesel Engine. One of the smallest boats in the fleet had triumphed against atrocious conditions, yet the tragedy in Bass Strait put it into stark perspective: six dead and 55 sailors plucked from the sea in what was the largest peacetime search-and-rescue mission undertaken in Australia. Midnight Rambler Yachts Sailing Ships Boat Design Boats Ship Tall Ships. As we learnt later, many of the boats that got into real trouble had been trying to run with the storm. To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald or The Age. Shop the official clothing range of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. Midnight Rambler and JustADash were the big winners on Day 1 of the Middle Harbour Yacht Club hosted Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship (SSORC), in a race from Sydney Harbour to Lion Island and return on Saturday. among them before this event. Should they turn around and get Rockell treatment back in Eden, the fishing town on the NSW south coast, or press on? I'll tell you about a real challenge!' His only complaint through all this was that he reckoned he didn't need to stay below and wanted to pull his weight. On Midnight Rambler, the wind strength was too much even for their minimal rig of storm jib alone. Be quick as stock is limited! There was blood everywhere and Rockell was concussed. They had now staked their lives on their collective ability to fight the storm and keep racing. Saved by Julian Everitt Yacht Design. Midnight Rambler facing the 1998 conditions. "These days, in difficult business situations, I find it useful to look back on that race. He was educated at Newington College (1973-1978) and the University of New South Wales.. Her brother, John Whitfield, was the for'd hand on Midnight Rambler. There was more pain to come.". He was just eight years old when his father, Bill, bought him and his younger brother a small sailing dinghy. "Meltemi used to surge through waves, this boat goes bang. Dramatic images of the helicopter recoveries at the height of the storm remain the dominant memories. But, without the key instruments, Bob Thomas had been reduced to navigating by "DR" (dead reckoning), with only the deck-mounted compass as his guide. The tragedy that would make this 1998 Sydney to Hobart the most notorious event in Australian ocean-racing history was beginning to unfold. The seventh Midnight Rambler - this one more for “cruising, some racing... mainly having fun”. Bashing into a mere 45-knot wind and up to 50- foot waves was still survival conditions, yet now it seemed almost normal. During the height of the gale, crewman Chris Rockell was thrown across the cabin by a huge wave while putting on his wet-weather gear. “The spray was like bullets in your face.”Credit:Richard Bennett Photography. Rambler is also sitting on 4 points in AMS ahead of Intrigue on 5 points and Fork in the Road on 7 points. We'd all rowed and played competitive rugby at school. Posted on 23 Nov 2020 The noise was just deafening. Then we heard on the radio that we were actually leading on the progressive standings. The fate of many small boats in a tough second half of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was determined by Mother Nature. Most of us had done a lot of sport at school and that conditioning stood us in good stead. "The boat was largely an unknown quantity to us," Psaltis remembers, "but personally we were all pretty well-prepared. The real heroes of the '98 race were the rescue teams, but Midnight Rambler didn't have to call on them at any stage. "Thinking back on it now, I don't suppose we were the classic mob of knockabout yachties," he continues, "and thank god we weren't. They knew they needed to finish by 7.30am to win. These were much bigger boats – 50-footers – and here's us in a little 35-footer almost alongside. Not even their radio was operating, although it later worked intermittently. By 2pm on the second day, 22 boats had already been defeated by the conditions and were heading back to the safety of Eden. It's something I don't want to experience again.". Midnight Rambler reached the entry to Bass Strait at 11am on the 27th. We'd only made it halfway. But the nightmare race of 1998 is never far from his mind. "I was in my bunk, just trying to get some rest. The only instrument still functioning was the traditional magnetic compass fixed in the cockpit. "She is a great boat to sail. ", The worst period of the storm lasted about 10 hours. "Well, it's not that I didn't respect the sea then, but I do more now. Career highlights include: 1990-95, purchased 30ft Nuzulu. From casual to technical clothing, there is something for all occasions. An east-coast lowpressure system was forming. Few can recall who won. Our standard approach was to go almost straight up the face while keeping boat speed, then pull away very hard at the top and slide down the other side," he says. "It was a very fast ride. But we did think we should take down the spinnaker.". Photo Credit: Richard Bennett. Design #0024. If we'd been fighting it as individuals, it would have beaten us.". We kept him in his bunk for 24 hours. But their dominant concern was the weather ahead. "We all thought of our families, and that we might never see them again," Psaltis says. "Eighty per cent of the time you'd get the routine right. To be competitive in division and beyond that, ‘Hughie’ will decide. Through the many years of sailing charters in Newport, Providence and Boston Harbors and many hundreds of happy guests later, I have "come full circle" returning to Newport,"The City By The Sea". "We stripped off our wet-weather gear and tried to air our bodies and the boat. Unbeknown to Psaltis, Sue had flown down to Hobart to welcome them at the finish. For those last 100 miles of the race we were running on pure adrenalin – we were totally motivated to convert our advantage into a win.". Dynamic downwind, so much fun, but these IRC boats are brutal. Cruising/Racing Sailboat Sloop «MIDNIGHT RAMBLER» built by manufacturer HINCKLEY in 1995 — available for sale. Bill Psaltis, an experienced offshore yachtsman with 22 Sydney to Hobart races to his credit, had twice been Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, organisers of the event. They'd won by more than two hours. Early years. Then the truth dawned on us. The worst of the gale hit two hours later, just before 1pm on the 27th. They'd now have to sail extra miles to get to Hobart. The seventh Midnight Rambler - this one more for “cruising, some racing... mainly having fun”. 55 sailors were rescued in the largest peacetime search and rescue effort ever seen in Australia. That one tactical decision would have profound consequences – both for their success in the race, and their survival. The latest Midnight Rambler incarnation, St George Midnight Rambler, a lightweight, beamy Ker 40 IRC speedster, is a far cry from the heavy Meltemi, and the little Hick for that matter. The bang when you hit the water was incredible. It was hell on wheels. They have all been called Midnight Rambler and he still sails with many of the same crew from 1998. Psaltis won first place overall, aboard AFR Midnight Rambler, in the storm ravaged 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. No boat of its size had ever covered that first section of the race in less than a day. "Further out it's still bad news, but not nearly as bad as in those first 40 miles south of Gabo Island [off Victoria, just past the NSW border].". That was a pretty strange thing for me to hear because he always had such a tough exterior. Shaun Tiedemann, (Philosopher), Greg Prescott (2 Unlimited), Phil Turner (Alive) and Ed Psaltis (Midnight Rambler) are in the running to win the race overall and have their name engraved on the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s famous Tattersall Cup, awarded to the overall winner each year. We all worked hard before the Hobart race doing weights, running, rowing and swimming – anything to build up our aerobic strength and endurance. We'd row around in clapped-out dinghies behind these boats as we sailed them on the Parramatta River. Cromarty Magellen, a Tasmanian designed and built Knoop 39, won the Corinthian division of the 2016 Sydney Hobart, and on Saturday placed first overall under PHS corrected time to decide the 2019 Cock of the Huon by a narrow margin from the Sydney 36, Midnight Rambler, skippered by Psaltis. Then he wouldn't even let us take him to hospital. Three Quarter Ton. My latest yacht, Midnight Rambler, a Tartan 34C (C for “classic”) is an attractive sailing sloop. In 2010 Ker Design and McConaghy Boats teamed up for the first time to produce the Ker 40. among them before this event. “You had You had to wear sunglasses or goggles because you just couldn't look into the weather without some kind of eye protection. They could see lightning bolts in the distance. I remember he said, 'Thank god you and your brother are both alive and you've won this bloody race!' The lights of Hobart were tantalisingly visible across the glassy water. 1st overall 1991 and 1994 Sydney to Mooloolaba Yacht Race, Don't pull out of the race!' Today, Psaltis, now re-located to Tasmania, skippered his current yacht, a Sydney 36 also called Midnight Rambler, to his first win as a ‘local’ […] Our top speed was 21 knots, surfing a wave on an absolute knife-edge. Ed Psaltis (Midnight Rambler) was a class act on the water in Saturday’s Combined Clubs Summer Pennant winning Division One IRC, AMS and taking second in PHS on corrected time. ", Sleep was impossible. As a skipper, he'd tried 18 times to win it.". The seventh Midnight Rambler is back again for another race south, though this time will be racing her for home town, for the first time. Rambler 88 has been making waves on opposite sides of the world, coming 3rd in the 2015 Rolex Sydney-Hobart race. That's one of the times when all our practice really paid off. It was all hands on deck. "In my experience, if you're going to get a south-west change, then the worst place for it is as you're entering Bass Strait," he says. Ocean racing is a stamina sport, so physical fitness is crucial. Tempers began to fray and there was some barking at each other before the little sloop finally crossed the line off Battery Point at 5.06am. As Bob Thomas returned from the final weather briefing at 8am at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the navigator and co-owner of AFR Midnight Rambler was a worried man. Twenty years ago last December, the then Sydney-based yachtsman Ed Psaltis skippered AFR Midnight Rambler through 80-knot winds in the Tasman Sea to win the tragic 1998 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. “You had With Ed Psaltis’ relocation to Tasmania, the entry is officially and proudly representing the RYCT. Psaltis still savours the moment they realised they had a chance to win. to wear sunglasses or goggles for eye protection,” says skipper Ed Psaltis. You were basically hanging on for your life. Midnight Rambler made a good start, cleared Sydney Heads, and was soon running strongly off Bondi under full mainsail and the largest spinnaker on the boat. Targeting Cancer's Sandra Turner visits Midnight Rambler before it heads off on 2018's Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Sailing. "It was especially bad below, with the whole boat reverberating around you. “We are a bit long in the tooth now but still able to complete the … "The more favoured boats were ahead of us, but they were much further out to sea. Anticipating that the storm was likely to push them east, they'd decided to head in closer towards land and forgo the favourable current running south further offshore. “We do have two young guys at the front who have the flexibility and physical stamina we used to have!”  Between them, Ed and crew can declare over 125 Hobarts, and have won every major offshore race on the east coast, including overall wins in the Gosford Lord Howe Island and Sydney Mooloolaba Yacht Races, both twice; and Sydney Gold Coast and Sydney Hobart Yacht Races, both once. Western Union Business Solutions has partnered with Arthur Psaltis to tell his personal story on surviving the 1998 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and how it influenced his life and the trajectory it’s taken. ", Everyone climbed on deck to see what had happened. "We reckoned our chances of survival were actually better if we took the waves on directly, rather than trying to run with them and risk being pooped or swamped. "Even then we were overpowered," Psaltis recalls. He secured sponsorship from The Australian Financial Review and renamed the 35-foot (10.6-metre) yacht AFR Midnight Rambler. We did 90-[nautical]-mile round trips through the night to test ourselves and the boat. The yacht was going so fast there was a big rooster tail off the stern like a speedboat. Midnight Rambler was built in 1978 comes with a powerful new Yamar 30 hp. But Ed Psaltis, owner/skipper of the Sydney 36, Midnight Rambler, took the blame for his boat falling short of repeating his 1998 victory in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 628 nautical mile race. 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