NIKKI HENDERSON

NO MATTER HOW TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED OUR SPORT GETS, IT'S THE HUMANS THAT MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

Gripped by the nail-biting battle at the finish for line honours of the Sydney Hobart race, as the leaders were heading up the Derwent River, I was 455 miles east of Martinique on day 14 of a transatlantic, glued to updates through a temperamental Starlink connection. If you didn’t follow it, then check out Crosbie Lorimer’s report (on page 50) and the highlights video. It was the secondclosest finish in race history. It never ceases to blow my mind that a 600-mile race can come down to seconds.

We’ve all said it before when racing (particularly when you are at the back!): “It’s not over, until it’s over. Anything can happen.” But it’s when we see a finish like that, where we are reminded that nothing is set in stone until the finish gun sounds. Things can change quickly – a breakage on one of the front runner boats, an underdog’s flyer suddenly paying off, or simple human error can make what seems impossible suddenly within grasp.