"We were 24 hours early (for our booking), so we actually spent the first night on the boat," Petersen laughed.
They made it! 1 day and 23 hours, the beers are cold and the crew is happy! What a race!
Posted by Ran Tan Racing on Wednesday, 27 December 2017
Boasting the only fully-Kiwi crew in the race, Ran Tan II set out on Boxing Day from Sydney Harbour to tackle one of the most challenging ocean races the world has to offer.
And they didn't get off to an ideal start, with their Elliot 50 vessel being given a hard time by an 80ft yacht.
Ran Tan is on the first start line for the big race today. This means we will be playing with the big kids so it will be...
Posted by Ran Tan Racing on Monday, 25 December 2017
"But we beat them by about 24 hours into Hobart, so gave them a good spanking."
Once they got underway, Petersen said it was really a "dream run" for Ran Tan II as they hit speeds Petersen had never experienced, with the breeze picking up to as high as 37 knots.
"I was expecting something to blow up to be honest. We just got to some incredible speeds – the fastest the boat's ever gone, the fastest I've ever been in a yacht – our top burst of speed was 32.6 (knots)…It was just absolutely amazing."
Despite the dream run, Ran Tan II did suffer one hiccup when they broke their prod with 160 nautical miles to go and were unable to fly their big gennaker.
A gennaker is a downwind sail used mostly on racing yachts designed to bridge the performance gap between a genoa and spinnaker.
Without it, they had to sail at different angles which Petersen estimated cost them a couple of hours.
"We sailed through the second night like that, then the next morning we got to the iron pot, just at the mouth of the Derwent River and a Southerly wind change came through and three boats that were behind us managed to bring it up so we had a mad gennaker run up the Derwent harbor. We were able to fly our small gennaker."
And while some vessels such as LDV Comanche came to a stand-still up the river, Ran Tan II flew up it reaching speeds of 25 knots.
Ran Tan II was the 17th vessel to arrive in Hobart and finished 24th in the handicap standings. Petersen said despite losing a few places in line honours coming up the Derwent River, the crew was rapt with their result.
Petersen, who had previously competed in the race four times, said this time around was the most enjoyable by far and may have been his last.
"I've got no plans to go back over and do it, but who knows."
Sydney to Hobart standings
Line honours: 1. LDV Comanche (NSW) 2. Wild Oats XI (NSW) 3. Black Jack (QLD) 4. Beau Geste (Hong Kong) 5. Wizard (USA) 6. Wild Oats X (NSW) 7. Ichi Ban (NSW) 8. Quest (NSW) 9.Hollywood Boulevard (NSW) 10. Mascalzone Latino 32 (Italy) 17. Ran Tan II (NZ)
iRC Handicap: 1. Ichi Ban 2. Quest 3. Patrice (NSW) 4. Wizard 5. Mascalzone Latino 32 6. Smuggler (NSW) 7. Concubine (SA) 8. Chutzpah (Vic) 9. Celestial (NSW) 10. Beau Geste 24. Ran Tan II.
