Around 62,000 sailors have competed in the Sydney to Hobart since 1945, but next month a friendly feline named Oli may boldly go where no cat has gone before.
When retired navy officer Bob Williams applied to enter the Hobart for the first time this year, there was never any question Oli would be going along for the 628-nautical mile ride to Constitution Dock.
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“It’s not a matter of making the decision to bring him, this is his home,” Williams said aboard his vessel Sylph VI.
“He’s just part of the ship’s crew. He’s been with me for several years now. He’s part of the furniture.”
Oli’s been travelling with Williams on Sylph for around five years and has shaken off his sea legs in that time.
“He used to get seasick on the first day out but he seems to be pretty much over that now,” Williams said.
“He doesn’t like the rough weather but he eventually gets used to it and finds a place to curl down and get some more sleep in.”
In fact, Oli has become such a seasoned sailor that Williams was keen to bring him on a non-stop circumnavigation around Cape Horn during the pandemic.
“Unfortunately the Department of Agriculture wouldn’t let me,” Williams said.
“I tried, I wanted him to come with me but unfortunately he couldn’t. I had a friend look after him for that particular trip.”
Oli is believed to be the first cat to contest the bluewater classic.
But with the race dating back 78 years, it is impossible to be sure whether a cat may have been aboard an early vessel.
Animals were certainly taken for the journey in those days; carrier pigeons were used to send news back to shore from the inaugural event in 1945.
Sylph VI herself has a long history in the race, having contested the race five times before in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Williams bought her in 1997 and has since circumnavigated the globe two-and-a-half times.
Sylph enters the Hobart in the two-handed division, with Williams’ friend Chris Warren lined up to co-skipper.
Completed in 1960 and measuring 40 feet, she will reach Hobart days after the four high-tech 100ft supermaxis.
Williams and Warren aren’t bothered by that and they don’t believe Oli will be, either.
“He’s fine, when I’m down in the bunk, he’ll come and snuggle up. He’s happy,” Williams said.
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