The smallest boat in the fleet still racing to Hobart is Team Wildfire, a Farr-designed 31' monohull. Team Wildfire is practically a United Nations on water, the team comprising two Canadians, an Australian, an Englishman, Irishman and a Welshman. How they understand each other is anyone's guess, but it seems to work!
The boat is jointly owned by Malcolm Robinson, Jon Ettershank and Julie Hunt (to whom I owe an apology as I have previously mentioned Jacqui Guy as the only female competitor - she is the only female runner) and their fourth sailor is Nic Jansen, a Canadian geology student at the University of Tasmania. Runners Gerry and Karl are both from NSW. They struggled early in yesterday's run prompting the sailors to enter serious discussions as to who would take their place if they were unable to continue.
"We're very glad they recovered otherwise it would have been more a walk than a run," Jon said yesterday.
The team has done quite a lot of offshore sailing together including two Launceston to Hobarts and also regularly races on the Derwent.