As it happened: Two sailors die in Sydney to Hobart tragedy

It’s been a harrowing day for the Sydney to Hobart, with two deaths - the first since the tragic 1998 race - on Bowline and Flying Fish Arctos. Nick Smith, 65, and Roy Quaden, 55, died in the early hours of this morning, and we send our condolences to their friends, family and crew.

On Porco Rosso, a crew member was washed overboard, but safely returned to shore. More than a fifth of the fleet has retired, with 21 boats tapping out.

We’re hopeful that it’s a safe night for the remaining racers as the majority of the yachts begin to make their way across Bass Strait.

At this time, LawConnect is leading by a comfortable margin of 14 nautical miles, though there are still 120 nautical miles left of the race for the super maxi. I have had confirmation from the

LawConnect team that they expect to cross the finish line between midnight and 1am tomorrow.Thank you for joining our live coverage of the race.

The 22nd yacht to retire from the race, The Shepherd Centre, has ended their effort after experiencing engine issues. This means that just over a fifth of the 104 yacht strong fleet that left Sydney Harbour yesterday afternoon has retired.

An earlier retirement is now understood to have been from a fire onboard. Georgia Express managed to contain the electrical fire, and was escorted to Eden by a police vessel.

The CYCA’s vice commodore David Jacobs has just been speaking in Hobart.

He says Nick Smith, onboard Bowline, was not killed by the boom as the CYCA and NSW Police had previously reported.

“We thought that he had been hit by the boom, as had Roy, and we’ve now learned that that wasn’t the case,” he said. “He was hit by the mainsheet, and the mainsheet threw him across the boat, and unfortunately he hit his head on the winch, and that’s what killed him.”

Jacobs said Smith was “a very experienced sailor”.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has confirmed the identity of the second man killed during the Sydney to Hobart in the early hours of this morning as Roy Quaden, a 55-year-old Western Australian man.

The release said Quaden “was a crew member on Flying Fish Arctos (NSW). It is understood he was struck by the yacht’s boom during an incident which occurred overnight approximately 30 nautical miles east/south-east of Ulladulla NSW. Fellow crew members performed CPR, but they could not revive him.”

“The safety of all competitors in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is extremely important and is always the number one priority of the Race Committee.

“The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia is in contact with both yachts and has arranged counselling support services to the two crews.”

Nick Smith, one of two men to have died in this year’s Sydney to Hobart, has been remembered as a down to earth and experienced sailor and dedicated member of the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron.

Owen Haskett, Rear Commodore of the squadron, told reporters in Adelaide the Bowline sailor had been a member of the club since 2013.

“Nick was a regular crew on Bowline … Nick’s done offshore racing, he did the haystack qualifier, he’s done at least one leg of the Clipper ocean racing,” he said. “So he’s an experienced ocean racer.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of racing with Nick previously on other vessels, and he was a great, down-to-earth sailor, a very experienced offshore sailor.”

Smith had been a member of the yacht since 2013, and had previously competed in the Sydney to Hobart four times.

“Everyone’s excited for a Sydney to Hobart, it’s sort of the premier Australian yacht race. Anyone who does any significant amount of offshore racing aspires to do it. So they would have been very excited to get out there and get amongst it.

“The club has been in contact [with the Bowline crew] and obviously, they’re devastated.”

Another four yachts have stepped out of the Sydney to Hobart, with Quetzalcoatl retiring for an unspecified crew injury. Lord Jiminy had to retire after a crew member had a flareup of a pre-existing injury.

Double-hander Verite, and Georgia Express both retired with electrical issues.

This brings the total number of retirements up to 21, almost a fifth of the entire racing fleet.

The Sydney Morning Herald incorrectly named Adelaide barrister Ian Roberts as one of the victims in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. This was incorrect. We apologise to Mr Roberts and his family.

The man who tragically died on board Bowline has been identified by the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron as Nick Smith.

Nick Smith, the sailor that died onboard Bowline during the Sydney to Hobart.

The squadron said in a press release that Smith was an experienced sailor and that this year’s attempt was his fifth at the Hobart.

Police earlier today said the individual was a 65-year-old South Australian man who had died after the vessel’s boom hit him in the head about 2:30 this morning.

Another man on the same yacht was medically evacuated after suffering a shoulder injury in the same incident.