I have been watching this race for a long time. I used to watch the start at my grandfather’s farm Lightwood, near Jingellic on the Murray River. I mean, there was not much else to do apart from farm work. So it was good to see the start in person when I moved to Sydney. I have been a few times, though I did not go this year. I was doing house work instead. Though I did watch the start on tele. Something I have not done for over a decade. But I think they need to do something to spice up the race. At the moment it is just a drag race down the coast. So here are a few ideas.
- Stagger the start so that, according to classification, the leader of each division should arrive in Hobart at the same time. So the slowest division would leave first and the top end maxis would leave days later.
- Go the other way around Tasmania. Clearly going the other way around the continent would take a bit longer. But going the other way around tassie would take them down the west coast, which is much more exciting than the east, and they could join you with the boats racing from Melbourne.