NITV spoke with Gomeroi man Athol Boney from the tribal Warrior crew about the trip as it they enter the final leg of the journey into Hobart Harbour.
“We’ve been going all right, a lot of stuff has been going wrong, we’ve had to drop a couple of sails and just yeah, shocking weather as well,” Athol said.
There were also a number of things that went wrong including crew members having to bail out water to keep the motor going.
“A couple of bolts have rusted up too and water leaking in our motor so we’re constantly every half an hour taking turns pumping the water out so we don’t destroy our motor,” he said.
Prior to the Sydney to Hobart relay voyage, the only boat Athol had ever been on was a Sydney Harbor ferry.
“It’s very, very exciting learning something; you start from the bottom, working and learning all totally new skills.”
“That’s something very exciting for myself and just saying to young brothers and sisters 'you can get on board and do the same stuff'.
“The experience has been unbelievable and I wish I had done it earlier.”
Despite the problems on the way it was rewarding challenge Athol said.
“For me personally I like the adrenaline, I’m half adrenaline junkie and I love trying new things, I like to give new things a go and see how I go personally.”
“Not knowing anything about it, it’s good to learn all this new stuff .”
