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months at sea to me is just an ideal thing. You get into your own regime…great camaraderie; no hassles oftraffic; no hassled people; no news.” The long trips also allowed Julie to expand and consolidate her navigational skills. She envisaged one day being the navigator on an ocean going yacht and held a dream of owning an offshore racer.
    Back in Australia, Julie served her apprenticeship as an understudy navigator and general crewmember aboard Diamond Cutter , one of the more competitive yachts out of Middle Harbour Yacht Club. She was rewarded with wins in the club’s offshore championship and a Brisbane to Gladstone race.
    “Navigating was certainly the way to go for me,” said Julie. “I love ocean racing but I hate sitting on deck and getting wet. I like doing anything on the yacht where I can actually move. Even the cooking appeals. You don’t need great big strong muscles to go and navigate. There are two other pluses for me – I don’t get seasick and I love dabbling with computers and electronics. So navigation’s the ideal job.”
    It was almost inevitable that the Sydney to Hobart would become part of her offshore sailing agenda and by the 1998 event she was a veteran of no fewer than five races.
    After returning from Hong Kong, Julie sailed on a number of yachts, mainly in distance events. She also participated along with hundreds of other sailors mid-week in the summer twilight “beer can” races. It was during these Wednesday night races that she and the former world 18-foot skiff champion, Peter Sorensen, began discussing the possibility of buying an offshore race yacht.
    “I always wanted a boat but I could never figure out why people wanted to own a boat by themselves. It’s better to share the costs and the fun. Pete and I always got along well. I liked the way he ran a boat – theway he used it all the time, Wednesdays, Thursdays and weekends – Pete was always out there. I was sort of thinking about a 40-footer. I thought that might be something that we could handle physically and financially. Then I realised he was thinking more along the lines of a 50-footer or 60-footer. That thought became a little easier for me to accept when he brought Stan Zemanek into the equation.”
    Zemanek, Australia’s most successful night-time talkback radio show host, had known Sorensen since they raced skiffs on Sydney Harbour decades earlier. With the syndicate formed, Hodder, Sorensen and Zemanek went out and purchased the 50-footer Morning Mist III from Melbourne in 1998. Their desire was essentially straightforward – to race hard and have a good time. Their initial target was the exclusive, invitation only Big Boat Series at Hayman Island in Queensland’s Whitsunday region in August. Morning Mist III collected first prize in its division. The trio had a winner.
    They were hoping their good fortune would continue the following week at Hamilton Island Race Week, but just eight miles out of Hayman their luck ran out. Morning Mist III ploughed into a reef travelling at a speed of eight knots. The structural damage to the hull and keel was so extensive that the insurers went close to considering it a write-off. Chastened but by no means defeated, Hodder, Sorensen and Zemanek decided that they should turn their attention to the Hobart race. The yacht was duly trucked back to Sydney for major surgery.
    “The damage was massive,” said Julie. “The hull had to be stripped of everything then turned upside down in a shed at McConaghy’s boat yard. Almost the entire bottom of the hull had to be cut out and rebuilt.”
    The work took longer than anticipated. Plans to have Morning Mist III – now named Foxtel-Titan Ford – testedin lead-up races in late December evaporated. The keel was bolted back on and the yacht relaunched only days before the start.
    The 1998 Hobart race would be its first sea trial.
    In August 1979 Paul “Tanzi” Lea was one of many people acclaimed as a hero in Britain. For three