Grant Wharington / Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag

gender Male
Sunrise shot of the stern. Below, Witty and Libby are at the nav station. Libby: "As much as we had the cloud of doom three or four days ago, in hindsight it probably turns out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise. Because it gave us a more westerly approach to the following clouds; it gave us this lane." Grant sits next to her, holds up three fingers: "Only three Sidney-Hobart races to go to the finish." On deck, Luke steers with the sunrise behind him. "Every sched that they don't gain it makes it harder for them to catch us... It's all up to everyone on board now to execute as a group." Below, Trystan eats with Luke behind him also eating. Trystan talks about how they can't relax, because everyone is so quick behind, still a lot of choices to be made. Grant, on the helm: "Cha-ching!" He explains that Witty (standing behind him) has a deal where when they can hit 20 knots of boatspeed on course, they get a payout, $100. "Problem is the steering's a little too accurate lately, it's gonna cost him a fortune." Witty talks about how they've had emails from supporters and sponsors, and expectations are super high. Talks about the level of stress with 1,400 miles to go. Not wanting to let down the people who put them there.John talks about their comeback. "It is more positive not being off the back, for sure. But it can change." "Hong Kong is hometown for the skipper. It's also the hometown for a major backer... So for us to get a good result... it would be everything." Drong shot. Shot of routing software on the computer. Grant says the leaderboard shows them dropping back from first into second, but it's only by .6 mile, and the guys they're looking at are 70 miles north of them. "So they're only ahead on paper." Shot of Libby and Witty looking at the computer. Grant: "Thing that helped us a bit more is the model wasn't quite reality." Being north was not as big an advantage as it was supposed to. Couple of islands they have to miss, but in pretty good shape. "Pretty happy to be here. Better this end of the fleet than the other."High drone shot of Scallywag sailing fast, triple-heading on starboard. Slomo washing machine. Grant, trimming in the cockpit: "When David Witt says to me, 'Come and sail the Volvo 65 with me', I said, 'Oh, that sounds like fun. Are they very wet?' He said, 'A little bit.' 'Are you sure?' He said, 'Wetter than anything you've ever sailed in your life.'" Slomo washing machine shots in the cockpit. Ben on the helm. Drone shots.Drone shot of Scallywag against the late afternoon sun shimmer. Ben sits on the foredeck. "We've lost contact with all the boats we found the other night. And we're a fair few miles behind, which is a bit shit." Still in the doldrums, though, so there's always a possibility, he says. Talks about working hard and getting close, and then you "have a bit of a whoopsie"... Below, Alex eats and talks about the competition. Shot of the wind map. Alex talks about Libby's predictions, chances of making gains in the approach to Hong Kong harbor. "It's not bad, Thai green curry." Drone shot. On the helm, Ben talks about how King Neptune was a bit ill during the equator crossing in the Atlantic, so he's had a bit of a holiday, and is going to make an appearance here. Grant emerges from the cabin as Neptune. (Not gonna win any Best Costume Design Oscar for this one. It's a... sheet wrapped around him? And an unadorned boathook as a trident?) Looks like the victims are Annemieke, John, Alex, and Trystan. "Where are the children of the South?" Neptune sprinkles water on people. "Do you wanna be welcomed to the North?" They mumble "yes" in reply. Witty walks by with spray-on hair color and sprays them. Then he throws a disgusting bucket of something on them. Annemieke explains that Neptune has made sure they are safe in the Northern Hemisphere. Shot of the bow-tie pasta in the green slime on the cockpit sole. Alex, covered in goo, says, "No more bad juju. It's done. We're good... We're gonna clear every cloud now and win the race." Below, Grant and Witty at the chart table pull up the sched. Grant does musical accompaniment. Witty: "Sun Hung Kai leading." Grant: "Hey!" Alex, on deck: "Hopefully we can hold our position here. But it's still only 6 knots of wind, so... still some clouds around." Shot of the sunset. Alex: "...and you can go from a rooster to a feather duster in the space of a sched." Alex says there's 7 days to Hong Kong, and they're back in the fight again, so that's good. Sunset with John on the helm.In the morning light, Ben stands on the boom to look through binoculars ahead of them. Ben: "We've seen a sailing boat with a square-topped mainsail and a masthead sail, so we think it might be one of the other Volvos." Have been following them in the sched, and now have seen them in real life. Below, Libby calls out the latest sched. Sounds pretty happy. "Spotted Brunel about 40 minutes ago off our windward bow." Crew eats breakfast on the bow, talking about it. Witty: "One or two days ago we were a hundred miles behind the leaders." Ben: "We had to fucking work pretty hard the last two days." John talks about how they've worked hard, so to get where they can actually see and identify a yacht is cool. Witty talks about not giving up, keeping trying. "It's a really important leg for us. It would be catastrophic to come in last." Night shots of lightning. Witty on a PA tells the crew about Brunel being 9 miles away on AIS. "We're winning the sched for the first time, so well done lads." Talks about a rain cloud. "We've got this rain cloud which looks [BLEEP] horrendous." Beautiful shot of the waning gibbous moon rising through clouds behind the helmsman, silhouetting him. Next day, Witty talks on deck sounding despondent about getting stuck in the rain cloud with no wind. We see Libby at the nav station with Grant looking at Expedition's "Strip Chart" display. Libby: "True wind angle's at 120 here." Grant [pointing]: "So all this is starboard gybe..." Witty talks about losing 50 miles when they got stuck in the cloud and the other boats didn't. "probably lost 10 of the 30 miles there, and then we lost 20 of the 30 miles sailing 170 degrees off course... "We just did one of the stupidest things ever and now we're 30 miles behind running last again... We're the ones letting ourselves down. It's not bad luck; we're just being idiots. And we deserve to be here at the moment. And I'm just concerned that you don't get too many chances in this quality fleet to go from 30 miles behind or 100 miles behind to back in the lead. Somehow we've got 3,000 miles to figure out how we're going to do it. Again." He and Grant sit on the bow discussing it.High drone shot with distant island and clouds. Low-altitude drone shot with sunset. Shot of the wheel at sunrise. Grant, on the bow, talks quietly about having 2 knots of windspeed at sunrise, and battling at 2 knots of boatspeed themselves. Sunrise shot beyond someone (not sure who) silhouetted on the helm. Grant talks about it being a battle with the heat, trying to maintain boatspeed. Ben, on the bow, talks about the light winds and boatspeed. A little shifty for now, but when they get out it's a fast shot to Hong Kong. It's refreshing to not be cold and wet, but it's frustrating. Drone shots. Grant: 17 years since the first one he was involved in. Similarities, but the boats get pushed far beyond what anyone would have imagined. He talks about Ben, who went in 3 years' time from asking for a job sweeping out the boatyard to racing in this event. "That's just great to see." Ben talks about having sailed before with Grant on Ragamuffin. He's a knowledgeable guy. He and Witty have sailed together for many years. And [John] Fisher. They're Australians; a little arrogant. Trying to learn from them. Grant: Witty's got a great team of guys here. And girls. I think they all get on really well. I think it's a great squad and an exciting team to be involved in." Drone shot.High drone shot of Scallywag sailing on starboard gybe with a small island 3 miles to port. Think it's Mwamwako, the island just south of Ghupuna. Parko, shirtless in the cockpit, says it's quite a good milestone for them and the fleet, going past the Solomon Islands. More high drone shots, now showing the rest of the island group the boats rounded: Gupuna, Makira (San Cristobal). Parko: "Not many people ever see this spot." Trystan, on deck, talks about how being in this race has been a long-term goal. Says there are the big three: Olympics, America's Cup, Volvo. Hopes that after they get to Hong Kong he'll be able to stay with the team. Witty: "He worked in the boatyard, he knew the boats very well. He was a big strong guy. And for me, he was a rugby player... Nine out of ten guys I've ever played rugby with always put the team first." Witty talks about how the sailing is as grueling on the body as he thought it was. The demand for teamwork is even more than he expected, and he always knew it was the toughest team sport in the world. Parko: He enjoys the challenge. Special memories. John talks about growing up, loving sailing, seeing the Whitbread start at the Solent. "It isn't for everyone but you should always challenge yourself." In a rain squall, Witty takes a shower under the boom. Grant, on the wheel: "Needed to clean up his act a bit." John explains that they were able to have a quick freshwater shower in the squall when the wind was light. Witty explains that it's hard to find a great sailor and make them a great person. Easier to find great people and turn them into great sailors. "That's what we do on Scallywag."Grant, on the helm, makes the shaka sign. "Beautiful day. Tasman Sea at its finest." Drone shot of Scallywag from high overhead. Libby sits at the nav station looking at routing. "Pretty good sched for us." She talks about how for the next few days they should see a gain (due to compression). Shot of Parko on the helm with the sunset behind him. Liz at the nav station talks about letting the crew know what to expect, so they know when to expect a lot of effort and gybes, vs. when to expect straight-line sailing. Annemieke grinds on the pedestal. Pretty sunset shot. Witty at the nav station waits for the sched. Pretty drone shots of Scallywag with a squall in the distance. Drone shot. Witty: "We've gained, but not a lot." On the helm, Grant takes his hands off the wheel and lets the boat sail itself for a few seconds. Sunrise drone shot wth rain.Scallywag reaches on starboard tack with J1 and J3 in fairly flat water. TTToP is 1/4 miles away, ahead and to windward. I think this is probably from the afternoon of the first day of the race, around 2018.01.02 08:48:50 UTC, when they had exited Port Phillip Bay and were heading SE along the coast. Witty steers and wipes spray from his face; the low coastline is visible to leeward. Witty talks about what's coming up. "Scallywag's in reasonable shape." Points out the other boats around them. Washing machine shots in the cockpit. Shot of the stern with the sunset. Witty talks about strategy, not reacting to the other boats. But seeing the other boats around them is reassuring. "Pretty sure we're going the right way then." Shot of Libby with a tablet. Grant, panting: "I'm slightly out of breath from grinding. I've been pushing electric winch buttons for the last 15 years. It's much easier. But this does keep you warm." Witty: "Should have had full crew numbers from day one I think. Certainly makes it a lot easier. Trystan's a big strnog guy, which helps. Warry's been doing a good job driving, Libby seems to be a bit of a class act so far, so it's all good. Talk to you tomorrow. See where we are tomorrow. MIght change my mind!" Gybe in the cockpit. Shot of MAPFRE to leeward with the sunset behind them.Dockout as "Beautiful Day" plays. Witty on the helm. As they motor out Witty explains that Antonio broke his arm, so they got Trystan Seal to come in. Worked for the boatyard as part of the refit. Young UK guuy. We see him grinding a winch. Then he talks about how excited he is to be on the boat. He looks about 17. "You never know if you're going to like it or hate it until you do it. It should be good." In the background Libby is talking to Witty. Witty explains that Tom Clout "got quite sick", so he had to "call on an old mate, Grant Wharington, a bit of a yachting legend." We see Grant steering. Grant: "I'm really happy to have got a call up from David. He's an old mate of mine." We see Grant on the helm. Witty explains that Libby will help them be at full strength rather than being a person short. Shots of start with Witty on the helm and Libby talking to him. After the start, Witty talks about it. There was a 20-degree pin bias and they tried to do a port-tack start, which was tough. But it's all good. He jokes about getting rid of the jumper, who we then see jump off.