What could be nicer than to race the Sydney to Hobart with your son?
Nothing – is what Tasmanian sailing legend Ken Gourlay’s answer would be.
On board Blue Moon II as a double-handed entry, Gourlay will take the 628-nautical mile race on with son Tristan for the first time.
The two are no strangers to sailing long distances together and their journey down to Hobart’s Constitution Dock is only the curtain raiser for the Melbourne to Osaka race next year.
Gourlay became the fastest Australian to sail non-stop, unassisted around the world in 2007, but his son also boasts an impressive resume.
The younger Gourlay completed the Melbourne to Osaka race in 2018, which was enough to tempt his father out of retirement.
“Entering the Sydney to Hobart sort of evolved,” Ken said.
“You need to do a qualifying race (for the Melbourne to Osaka) so it gave us an opportunity to do the Sydney-Hobart.
“Well, what could be nicer than to sail in the Sydney-Hobart with your son?
“I’m nearly 70, so this could be my swan song, as far as that sort of thing goes.”
Together, the two have raced in almost every local Tasmanian offshore race, winning line honours in the 2004 Melbourne to Launceston race.
They will contest the Boxing Day bluewater classic on the largest double-handed boat, a revamped 54-foot Adams yacht.
The duo are crossing their fingers reaching conditions – wind blowing from the side, rather than as a direct headwind or tailwind – come race day.
North-easterly winds seem to be the most likely scenario as suggested by the long-range prediction from the Bureau of Meteorology.
Southerly winds are a chance should a cold front and low-pressure system moving across south-eastern Australia move slower than anticipated.
“That’s a curly one because we’ll be on the wrong side of it. We’ll have headwinds if it’s there when we start but it’s still too early, really, to say,” Ken said.
“Reaching across the wind would be ideal for us because the spinnakers for us, they’re big spinnakers, so that’s a challenge in ourselves.
“We can run them and we do run them, but reaching is probably the easiest for us to conserve our energy and that sort of thing.
“We’re a very old design from the 70s, but we’ve both had this same design before, so we’d like to hold our end up as they say.”
The Gourlays will be one of 22 double-handed entries competing after the division was introduced in 2021.
“The main goal is to finish but obviously we’ll try for as hard as we can,” Tristan told AAP.
“Just to finish and enjoy the ride, I think that’s the main goal and get home safely.”
Ken added: “We’d like to put in a sterling performance. We think we can.”
