THINK YOU'RE TOUGH. MEET THE BLOKES THAT MAKE YOU LOOK SOFT.

#sydneytohobart #grueling

Who are the real tough guys? The men who stoically battle a yacht race that is grueling for days on days on days, or those who do a race without seeing more than 15 knots of breeze, mostly reaching or downhill? Not all races are equal in the Sydney to Hobart. Some races are soft others hard. Enough to make a tough sailor get a bit emotional.

There are a few sailors who have done more wicked race. They are the unsung heroes who keep a low profile. Time to shine the light. We have had a quick look at who’s hot in the hard race standings using sailor.com.au who's hot

THE HARD, TOUGH AND GRUELING

In sailor.com.au all Sydney to Hobart race are classified into five difficulty categories: Kind, Normal, Hard, Tough or Grueling. We list the standings of those sailors who have done the most ocean race time in Hard, Tough or Grueling conditions. They are:-

1. Syd Fischer - 64 days 18 hours

2. John Bennetto - 55 days 14 hours

3. Lou Abrahams - 53 days 8 hours

4. Josko Grubic - 43 days 12 hours

5. Peter Kurts - 40 days 2 hours

6. Peter Joubert - 38 days 9 hours

7. Alex Whitworth - 35 days 18 hours

8. Magnus Halvorsen - 33 days 21 hours

9. Trygve Halvorsen - 33 days 21 hours

10. George Snow - 32 days 12 hours

WHO'S DONE IT GRUELING

Now if we drill in further and just look at the most grueling yacht races in the Sydney to Hobart.

There has only been 4 Grueling Sydney to Hobart yacht races in its history 1984, 1993, 1998 and 2004. For a quick analysis of the races see the story

When you’re stuck on a yacht for days with a small crew, decisions are a big deal. Get it wrong and no one is going to be there to help you for a while.

The top five sailors who have the most known race time in Grueling conditions are:

1. I Smith - 12 days 8 hours

2. J T Fuglsang - - 11 days 23 hours

3. Alex Whithworth - 11 days 15 hours

4. Peter Rodgers - 11 days 3 hours

5. Thorry Gunnersen - 10 days 8 hours

Smith was the owner of and sailed on Lot’s Wife and Hobart Sheraton. He has experienced over 1 million seconds of intense brutal ocean sailing and made it through.

These sailors have had everything thrown at them and the time spent racing in the harshest of conditions.

Our hat goes off to these legends.