Ragamuffin (right) at the start of this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.

A match race up the River Derwent from the Tasman Light and a heart-stopping decision not to follow Rambler when she gybed in the final stages of the race, resulted in second over line for 88-year-old Syd Fischer and his Ragamuffin 100, yesterday.

Those events were put into perspective when sailing master/skipper David Witt re-told the real story of their trials on the first night and second days at sea.

Witt told how on the first night in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, things went horribly wrong for Team Ragamuffin.

“It was 10 to 10.30 at night when the southerly hit. It was intense and relentless. We were trying to get the main down heading north when the boat literally capsized on top of us.

“Shave (Justin Shave) was on the bow and under water, the main, half down, knocked me off the back of the boat. I was hanging on to the back end and my sea boots were dragged off me.

“All I was thinking was, ‘can someone press the canting button (to centralise the keel), cos I can’t reach it from where I am’.

“We were under water for 15 minutes – the ballast was on the wrong side of the boat and so was the keel. Frightening... doesn’t describe it,” Witt recalled.

Then there was a game of dodgem cars with two whales, on a collision course with the boat.

“We had to swerve and dodge them – that was nearly catastrophic,” said crew member Andrew ‘Crowebar’ Crowe.

Losing all their electronics did not help, Crowe apologising for the lack of contact with the media on Day 2.

A broken port daggerboard was the dizzy limit, slowing the boat right down right when they had good contact with the lead boats.

“But we dusted ourselves off and kept going,” Witt said.

And let’s not forget a long stretch where sailing briskly at 25 knots became a distant dream when they were almost becalmed most of yesterday afternoon.

Then came the match race up the Derwent.

At the last, Witt had to decide whether to follow Rambler, when tactician Brad Butterworth took the American boat towards shore looking for pressure.

“Did I feel the pressure of having to make that call – of course I did. I had Syd and the rest of the crew depending on a right decision. Luckily it was,” Witt said, adding they had overtaken George David’s Rambler once up the Derwent and then just before the finish.

“That’s the toughest one we’ve had for a few years – but it was worth it in the end. It was good to beat Rambler over the line. The crew did a great job – every one of them did the job they had to do.”

The last words go to owner Fischer, the oldest person to ever contest the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 628-nautical mile race.

“I don’t have to do much anymore – I sit back and let the guys do it. David Witt does a good job of helming and skippering the boat. It’s a good crew – all of them,” he said.

On their winning move, Fischer said: “We just had to try different tactics. We just had to do something different, and do it better – and we did.

“It was good to beat them – a good feeling. And I crossed another one off – my 47th,” he said with his trademark grin.

Meanwhile, the NSW TP52 Balance, the appropriately named yacht of financial guru Paul Clitheroe, is the leader for overall honours in the race and now has to await the arrival of two European yachts today, her immediate challengers.

The Swiss boat Teasing Machine and French/Belgian entry Courrier Leon were the leading boats still at sea to challenge Clitheroe’s attempt to win the coveted Tattersall’s Cup in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s bluewater ocean classic.

Balance crossed the finish line at 4.50pm yesterday, seventh across the finish line behind line honours winner Comanche and the first TP52 from a record nine that started.

Only three survived: Balance, Celestial and Ragamuffin 52.