6:01 AM Sun 14 Dec 2008 GMT
Victorian orthodontist Bruce Taylor does not spend much time in his surgery in late December.For the last 28 years Taylor has sailed out of Sydney Heads on Boxing Day and headed south.
This year he will be helming his latest Chutzpah, a 40 foot Reichel Pugh flier built by Hart Marine, the sixth yacht of the same name.
Taylor has done very well over the years. Quite probably he has the best record of overall achievement but he is aching for an overall handicap win.
Last year Chutzpah was leading overall on handicap less than 50 miles from the finish, but the weather gate was closed and Chutzpah fell back to fourth place. Taylor was gutted.
The Sydney to Hobart has some strange parallels with giving birth. It tends to create short memories of the agony involved in the 'delivery'; skippers are soon planning a return.
When asked less than an hour after finishing whether he would be back for another go with Chutzpah, Taylor typified the rapid memory loss this race induces. 'It's just a little too early to be putting that question to me right now. Maybe ask me again this evening,' he grimaced.
We did, and he's back of course.
Today Taylor talked to us again. He explained that Chutzpah had come second and third in previous years, coming fourth overall in 2007. Chutzpah has won their division a record of eight times, which is a remarkable achievement.
'Our objective usually is we reckon if we can win our division we've sailed as well as the weather will let a boat of our size. Whether the weather patterns suits our size boat is in the luck of the gods, so I guess you could say there we've been unlucky.
'We've had some amazing experiences in this race. In general terms we seem to do well,' Taylor said.
He observed that they usually sail well down the NSW coast and across Bass Strait, although the bottom of Tasmania can be problematic.
'It's usually at the bottom third of Tassie we seem to lose out on, and yet paradoxically last year it was where we made up some huge ground on probably the last half of the east coast of Tassie.
'But around the bottom we've had some shockers, and last year was the same. We basically ran out of wind, whereas Rosebud and Ragamuffin managed to just keep rocking along. They were up the river while we were 12 hours behind them without any breeze.
'You can say we've been unlucky, but you've got to be lucky to win that race.
No one has ever won it without being a good sailor, but without also having a good bit of luck,' Taylor declared.
When asked what he'd be doing differently this year, Taylor said Chutzpah would be more relaxed in their approach.
'I think if you look at the Hobart results, usually the boat that wins winds up doing something quite radical.
'So we're maybe being a little less anal about our decisions and taking a punt more often. It may just give us the sort of break that we need,' he said.
Chutzpah is in good shape for 2008. They won the Stanley race against a strong fleet, and performed well in the Lipton Regatta. They will participate in the Rolex Regatta next weekend.
Taylor described the Rolex Regatta as a training exercise for the crew. 'We'd love to win the Rolex Regatta, but the reality is I think ten, eleven races are windward returns - that really doesn't suit our boat at all.
'We use it basically as a training exercise in getting everyone sharp again. Then we bash away to Hobart,' he said.
'We are hoping for a better result this year' Taylor smiled - for the 27th time.
by Rob Kothe
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Cape Leeuwin, WA
Foiling - Components (Wings,Masts,etc)
