Look closely at this photo of the foredeck of Wild Oats X (the 63-foot precursor to the supermaxi WOXI) that the Oatley family still uses for some flat-water events, probably including Hamilton Island Race Week in August.
The quick snap was taken today. What’s that lying along the port side? My goodness, it’s an antique alloy spinnaker pole! That type of traditional spar hasn’t been seen on an Oats boat for a decade or more. All their A-sails are flown from the bowsprit.
Could it be that someone in the team got some early inside info about the IRC re-considering the rating penalty it recently announced for using a spinnaker pole as a “whisker pole” to pole out jibs and genoas? Just asking….
