All Joe Mele has heard since arriving in Australia from New York earlier this month is that anyone sailing a yacht out of Sydney and turning right towards Hobart is out of their mind.
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He'll realise a decade-long dream on Boxing Day when he does just that as captain of Triple Lindy, the only American entry in this year's Sydney to Hobart, determined to successfully navigate the unpredictable waters of Bass Strait amid an undercurrent of apprehension.
"Everyone I have talked to says that no sensible person ever turns right out of the Heads," Mele said. "Complete strangers walk up to me on the dock and strike up a conversation.
"You need a different compass in the southern hemisphere because of the south pole.
"I bought a new compass and a compass adjuster came out with me and he's right out of Central Casting, old man of the sea, a bearded, older fellow and he was telling me about working on fishing boats in the Bass Strait.
"He said you have to be crazy to do that race."
Mele has yearned to do a major international ocean race since competing for the first time in 2003, and is well aware of the potential dangers and delights a Sydney to Hobart has on offer.
He arrived in Sydney about 10 days ago to meet his 13.4-metre long Swan MK II yacht that has been moored in Woolwich Dock since late October.
Prior to that, Triple Lindy was shipped across the Pacific Ocean from the coast of Florida, through the Panama Canal and eventually into Sydney via Auckland and Newcastle.
It'll have 10 crew aboard for the Sydney to Hobart – three Americans, six Canadians and a Brit – and while this is their maiden attempt at the punishing race, they'll still be armed with crucial ocean experience on Boxing Day.
For more than a decade Mele has been sailing off the east coast of America, contesting races such as the Marblehead to Halifax, the Caribbean 600 and the split-personality Newport Bermuda.
"That race for instance is three different races," Mele said. "You have the waters of the north Atlantic from the northeast to the gulf stream, and you'll go out and it will be cold and the wind can be anywhere from five knots to 30 knots.
"Then you get into the gulf stream and that's the most interesting part of that race, and in a way that's our Bass Strait except only 60-miles wide.
"You've got a very warm current flowing from the southwest to the northeast and what makes for very potentially dangerous conditions is when you get a north east storm coming through when you're crossing the gulf stream. You get incredibly big waves, choppy, it's a very confused sea, it feels like you're in a washing machine.
"Once you get through that it's relatively smooth sailing in the Sarasota Sea where the temperatures are warmer and the conditions tend to be a bit more settled.
"We understand we're up against a potentially much more serious challenge now. Every single person on board has been incredibly focused."
Triple Lindy is one of 90 yachts contesting this year's Sydney to Hobart, after the withdrawal of Victorian entry Avalanche.
