As the fleet made its way along the NSW coast, a massive storm was brewing 200 kilometres to the west. In the early hours of that Sunday, racers were hit by ferocious south to south-easterly winds of between 40 and 45 knots and huge seas.

As day dawned, storm conditions escalated with winds shifting to the west and increasing to gale force with gusts up to 70 knots and wild seas off the southern NSW coast and in Bass Strait, which caused havoc snapping masts and tossing a number of crew members overboard.

The front page of The Examiner on Monday, December 28, read “Fleet Battered” – with reports that a crew member from a NSW yacht was missing and Launceston entrant Business Post Naiad had capsized as gales threatened the safety of competitors in the race.

In a day of high drama, yachts were abandoned and helicopters had to winch injured crew members from mountainous seas.

A major search was underway in Bass Strait for an injured crewman swept overboard after Sydney yacht Sword of Orion was rolled in heavy seas.

Business Post Naiad, skippered by Launceston’s Bruce Guy, capsized after being dismasted in massive seas and several other yachts reported injuries and serious damage.

A total of 37 yachts that set out from Sydney Harbour had retired by Sunday night and others sought shelter from severe conditions – the worst since the 1993 race when 66 of the 104 starters had to retire.

But the news would only get worse.

The Examiner’s front page the next day proclaimed “Tragedy” – with two Launceston sailors confirmed dead and an English yachtsman feared drowned as the largest maritime rescue operation in Australian history plucked more than 50 yachtsmen from the Tasman Sea amid swells of up 10-metres and 80-knot winds that swept through the fleet.

Launceston neighbours, Bruce Guy, 51, and Phillip Skeggs, 36, died after their yacht was dismasted and capsized in ferocious conditions late on Sunday.

Guy suffered a heart attack and senior crewman Skeggs drowned in his safety harness after the boat rolled twice – the seven other crew members winched to safety in treacherous conditions.

The pair shared a back fence in a quiet Riverside cul-de-sac and a love of sailing brought them together.

Guy, 51, was the skipper of the yacht and living his dream of steering his own boat in the legendary blue water classic. He was one of Northern Tasmania’s most competent sailors having competed in two previous Sydney to Hobart races, many other ocean races in Bass Strait as well as being a Three Peaks veteran.

Skeggs, 35, was a well-known footballer who was competing in his first Sydney to Hobart. He was an enthusiastic and skilled sailor who had taken part in many ocean races.

Their deaths shocked the local yachting fraternity and the Launceston community where they were both well-known.

Also killed were John Dean, James Lawler and Michael Bannister from the Winston Churchill, apparently washed out of their life raft by giant waves that had earlier overturned and sunk their yacht and British yachtsman Glyn Charles who was washed overboard from Sword of Orion.

There had previously been only two fatalities in the annual event.

Of the 115 starters in the 1998 race only 44 yachts finished the race. 

The unusual low pressure depression that developed off the south-east coast of Australia brought summer snow to some areas and developed into a storm with winds reaching up to 70-80 knots, similar in strength to a low-grade tropical cyclone and ultimately caused the sinking of five boats and the deaths of six sailors.

Rescue efforts saw 35 military and civilian aircraft used along with 27 navy vessels.

As a result, of the race tragedies the crew eligibility rules were tightened, requiring a higher minimum age and level of experience.

A coroner's inquest held into the deaths was critical of both the race management for abdicating its responsibility to manage the race and the Bureau of Meteorology for not informing race officials of a seriously upgraded weather forecast about the severe storm that was developing and as a remedial measure required them to include maximum wind gust speed and wave height to their forecasts.

Sayonara duly claimed line honours in a sad and hollow victory at Constitution Dock.

Owner-skipper Larry Ellison broke down talking about the race.

At one stage he said the weather map had looked like the eye of a cyclone and his boat was right in the middle of it.

“It like one of those things weather stations give names to like Hurricane Helen,” he said.

“It has been a very emotional experience to get here and get the details. We were getting some on the radio and we heard that people were dying out there.

“This is not what this is supposed to be about.”

In 1000 years, he said he would never return to the Sydney to Hobart.