JULES HALL AND JAN SCOLTEN, THE TRUE HEROES OF THE SYDNEY HOBART

Never heard of them? Well, the organization has contributed to it, not recognizing the importance of their sportive achievement. They said about them: 

"At 03:01:42am this morning, the two Sydney sailors crossed the finish line in Hobart, the second two-hander to do so, behind Rob Gough and John Saul’s Sidewinder.....Both looked happy with their lot in life. As well they might, as Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth is primed to win the race's first ever two-handed trophy, awarded to the winner on IRC. They have also won ORCi overall, ... will also win PHS overall. NOT BAD FOR TWO LASER SAILORS...., although Scholten is well-respected in yachting circles, both offshore and inshore."

As we can understand by the movie below, the not well respected Jules Hall was the boat navigator and we all know that it is impossible to sail the little J99 at that pace, for several days, in rough conditions without two top sailors. Besides, the duo had recently won two major  2 handed races of the Australian calendar, finishing one of them not only ahead in IRC, but also in elapsed time (Line Honors).

   

The J99, arrived at Hobart on the tail of a S&S 47, which it fought in real-time along the race, a boat with a full crew, racing most of the time with perfect conditions for that type of hull (upwind with strong weather). We know that the S&S 47 Love & War was extremely well sailed, having made 3rd overall, and would probably have won the race if the wind had not faltered for them, on the last part of the race.

So we had a J99 sailing most of the time upwind (far from its strongest point of sail), sailed by a duo, as fast as a very well sailed fully crewed S&S 47, on a terribly hard and difficult race? WOW!!! .... and it is very hard to understand why that passed largely unnoticed ..... maybe because they were only "Laser Sailors"? LOL

Do you think I am exaggerating? Well, on the 2 handed division all the attention was given to the boat that made Line Honors, Sidewinder, a powerful and big 40class racer, that finished 4th among the two-handed, in PHS, and did not even have the trouble to race in IRC or ORCI, where its results would have been worse, while the J99 Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth, won the three 2 handed classifications, in IRC, ORCI, and PHS, and this one with 2 hours and 25 minutes advantage over Sidewinder.

But that is not what impresses me more, what is really incredible is that if, as everywhere, the 2 handed handicap results counted for the ORCI and IRC general classifications, these two guys and his little J99, would have won the Sydney-Hobart in ORCI, leaving Celestial (the TP52 that won it) 3 hours behind!!! In IRC they would have been 4th, but everybody knows that the handicap in ORCI is more precise and more related to the real boat performance than the handicap in IRC.

I am truly impressed with the outstanding performance of  Jules Hall and Jan Scolten, which is absurdly good, and calling them "Laser Sailors" or implying that Jules Hall is not "well-respected in yachting circles" after winning several offshore races, seems preposterous and ridiculous.

And that it is a measure of how elitist is the Sydney-Hobart race, where the focus is mostly on millionaire maxi yachts and "Line Honors, and where they are not interested in re-focusing the race protagonism from the millionaires and maxi yachts to a very small affordable yacht sailed by a duo, even if in this case the performance of Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth and Jules Hall and Jan Scolten was, by far, the more impressive in all race. Black Jack, the Maxi yacht celebrated as the winner of the Sydney Hobart was left in ORCI compensated time 10 hours and a half behind.

I hope things change in the future, not only in what regards sportiveness (taking into account what happened with Ichi Ban and Celestial) but also in what regards all sailboats to be allowed to race (I am talking about multihulls not being allowed) and in what regards the two-handed handicap results to count to the main results, like it happens everywhere else. It is very rare for a two-handed boat to win a main race event, but it had already happened, namely in the 2013 Fastnet, with a small boat raced by father and son.