Australian treasure

In the heart of London, not far from Buckingham Palace, stands the world’s oldest continually operating yacht club, and oldest ‘Royal’ club. It is the stately Royal Thames Yacht Club, a fine establishment founded in 1775 … just five years after Captain Cook discovered the entire east coast of Australia.

The club’s premises are as traditional as they are grand and fittingly, the Royal Thames Yacht Club’s Commodore is HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York.

Notwithstanding the sumptuous levels of comfort contained within its walls, the Royal Thames prides itself most on the Model Room where more than 250 models of yachts dating back to 1834 trace the evolution of yacht design through to today. 

These are not just any models donated to the club. A select and highly qualified committee within the membership consider only designs that represent either a significant and successful change in direction for ocean racing yacht design, or a particular design that has achieved considerable success at the highest level of the sport.

Not surprisingly then, one of the recent additions to this remarkable collection is a model of Australia’s most successful ocean racing yacht, the 30-metre supermaxi, Wild Oats XI. Owned by the Oatley family, Wild Oats XI signalled to the world in her very first foray into offshore racing, the 2005 Sydney to Hobart classic, that she could be recognised as a benchmark in yacht design. Launched just four weeks before the start of the 628-nautical mile event in late December that year, she led virtually from start to finish. When she crossed the finishing line, her name was written into the history books in impressive fashion. Wild Oats XI had beaten her near-sistership Alfa Romeo into second place by some 30 nautical miles, a feat Bob Oatley described at the time as ‘a bit like leading by a lap in the Melbourne Cup’. But most importantly she became only the second yacht in the history of the classic to be first to finish, to win on handicap, and to claim a race record time. 

Wild Oats XI was born following the tremendous success in the Admiral’s Cup of the Oatley family’s radical 60-foot yacht, Wild Oats. The late Bob Oatley AO, his son Sandy and skipper Mark Richards introduced the canting keel to the upper echelon of international ocean racing with this yacht. This development was a breakthrough, described by Australian yacht designer and America’s Cup sailor, Iain Murray, as ‘probably the largest single design element ever that has increased the speed of yachts by so much’. The canting keel swings from side to side like a giant pendulum and provides a far greater level of stability than a conventional fin keel. Such is the benefit that Murray said it was ‘like sticking a giant V8 into a four-cylinder family sedan’.

From here, the plan expanded to build a bigger yacht utilising this cutting-edge technology and the result was Wild Oats XI – and the rest is yachting history. Today, the yacht’s Hobart race record stands at eight line honours, including an unprecedented four consecutive wins. She has also won the race twice on corrected time and secured two fastest times for the course. 

Her list of achievements doesn’t end there. Apart from regularly competing at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, she has scored a string of victories and records on Australia’s east coast. The big yacht also made her mark on the international scene in 2015 when she was shipped to Los Angeles to compete in the LA to Hawaii Transpac Race. This was a joint venture with noted Californian yachtsman and entertainment identity, Roy Disney. Although the much-touted trade winds didn’t blow as expected on the 2225 nautical mile course, Wild Oats XI secured fastest time for the race. 

Since being launched, Wild Oats XI has been constantly upgraded to remain competitive against more recent designs. These changes included the fitting of a hydrofoil wing to provide more lift for the hull when sailing downwind. It was a modification which led to the big boat being referred to as ‘the Swiss Army knife’ because of the number of appendages extending from the hull – two rudders, two daggerboards, the hydrofoil wing which affectionately became known as ‘the ironing board’, and the canting keel.  Other improvements included a new ultra-light mast and rigging, and the latest in high-tech sails using fabrics developed for the aviation industry.

Two years ago, as new challengers began to be launched on the international sailing scene, the Oatleys and Mark Richards were beginning to believe that the end was nigh for this great yacht. It appeared that the only option would be to build a new design at a cost of some $20+ million. Instead, a 10-metre long section of the bow back to just forward of the mast could be cut off and replaced with a more hydrodynamically efficient forward section. Within a very short time, a new design was prepared, the bow cut off, and a new section built and fitted. The stern was also modified.

All performance data since the new-look Wild Oats XI was launched indicates that she is a considerably faster yacht in most conditions. Unfortunately, though, the last two Rolex Sydney Hobart races have not brought the desired results due to damage sustained in both races. But now, everyone in the Wild Oats XI camp, including her thousands of supporters, are turning their attention to the 2017 Hobart race, all the time cheering for another historic victory.