Sydney Hobart: Getting to the start line

by Katrina Masterson
Phil Molony, the owner of Papillon, originally planned for 2018 to be his final Sydney to Hobart race. However, Alec Snyder, an American offshore racer from Newport RI, had other plans and persuaded him to enter the Archambaum 40RC for the 75th edition and let him skipper.

This makes Snyder one of the youngest American skippers (35) to take part in this race. He did his first Sydney Hobart on Papillon in 2011 and has completed the race six times since then, five on Papillon and once on Passion 4 C.

Snyder is a professional race captain with over 100,000 nautical miles of offshore experiences on his resume, and the Sydney Hobart race is one of the few opportunities he takes for himself to sail. “Working in the sailing industry is what I love, and this race is personal to me. It reminds me why I enjoy what I do all year long,” said Snyder.

One of the biggest hurdles Snyder faces with running Papillon was the location, as he spends most of his year working in the US and Caribbean. Snyder’s strong suit is logistics, so for the past year he was able to manage boat work and purchasing new sails via email and phone calls to Australia.

Once he arrived in Sydney mid-December, he went straight to Cruising Yacht Club of Australia for a sail test and to prepare for the 24 hour qualifier passage. After the first sail he found the input shaft seal on the saildrive had broke. Within a matter of two days Snyder was able to rebuild the engine with the help of his crew.

The chaos that comes with inherent breakdowns and deadlines is what Snyder refers to as, “the race before the race,” this has also become somewhat of a specialty for him.

Race details – Entry list – Tracker – Facebook

Background: The 2019 fleet will be chasing line honours and the overall Tattersall Cup win in the 628nm Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race which starts December 26, 2019. From Sydney Harbour, the fleet sails out into the Tasman Sea, down the south-east coast of mainland Australia, across Bass Strait (which divides the mainland from the island State of Tasmania), then down the east coast of Tasmania. At Tasman Island the fleet turns right into Storm Bay for the final sail up the Derwent River to the historic port city of Hobart.