Nerves rattler over weather forecast on incoming race

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Crews in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race are nervously watching the weather forecast with a chance of rough conditions heading into Tasmania. A seasoned sailor is embracing the challenge alongside his son.

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00:0017 years ago, Ken Gourlay became the fastest Australian to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted

00:09around the world. Now he's teaming up with his son Tristan on Blue Moon 2 in next week's

00:15Sydney to Hobart.

00:17We like sailing for the purity of it and the enjoyment of it, so the two of us and we can

00:21do it, so why not?

00:23The Tasmanian Coast Keepers are keeping an eye on an incoming cold front.

00:27We've always got to be prepared for the not so good weather. That's just part of ocean

00:32racing.

00:33Between the two of us, we've been through a little bit on this boat, so I think we're

00:37pretty happy and pretty comfortable for it.

00:39It could be a bumpy ride.

00:41At this stage, the cold front that's coming through early next week is really what's going

00:45to be determining the weather by race start and that's what we're keeping our eyes on.

00:49The temperamental weather we've been having in Sydney has actually been a pretty good

00:53training opportunity for the crews with no guarantees of clear blue skies on boxing day.

00:59We're either going to start in a nor'easter and it's going to go south or we're going

01:02to start in a southerly and it'll go nor'east, so it's kind of six of one and half a dozen

01:06of the other at the moment and it will be what it will be.

01:11There's eight days left to brace for the unexpected.

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