This is a yacht race? Bit rich for me

Perpetual Loyal skipper Anthony Bell is a decent enough bloke, but those sailors who have slogged their guts out in smaller craft to win Olympic medals must chuckle when they see him among their ranks. Source: Daniel Forster / AP

NO greater sight exists than the start of the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race. One of the world's great harbours forms a picture perfect backdrop as the fleet races to be first out of the heads.

Once you've seen the start of a Sydney to Hobart, from the water or the shore, it's something you will never forget.

The sails on the dozens of boats, the spectator craft trying not to run into each other and the expensive cruisers out for a day of fizz sipping. It's part of Sydney's DNA. Even the sounds - the boats slicing through the water and the choppers hovering above - are unforgettable.

None of this translates to television and the race itself becomes a turgid affair for most of us after the boats are past Bondi.

The start is the beginning, middle and end of my interest in ocean racing, a sport that has become the domain of seriously rich businessmen who are willing to spend obscene amounts of money in return for sporting kudos.

The race never reaches the crescendo of its beginning. Most of the yachts sneak into Hobart under the cloak of darkness, on their own, with no welcoming crowd and little fanfare.

The race might start at the yachting equivalent of Flemington but it ends in Warrnambool.

Wild Oats Xl races down the east coast of NSW as this year's Sydney to Hobart underlines again that sailing monster maxis is as far from grassroots sport as you can get. Picture: AP Source: AP

Accountant Anthony Bell is the skipper of the Perpetual Loyal boat. He has jam packed it full of sporting celebrities, fronted huge media conferences and hired the best in the business to actually sail the boat down the coast to Hobart.

He is a decent enough bloke, but some of those sailors who have slogged their guts out in smaller craft to win Olympic medals must chuckle when they see him among their ranks.

Bell's wife, Kelly, has even formed a band of wives from Bell's celebrity crews with the aim of rivalling the WAG brigade in other sports.

The glamorous gals will be on deck in their designer casuals when the yacht sails triumphantly into Constitution Dock sometime today.

This year's Sydney to Hobart underlines again that sailing monster maxis is as far from grassroots sport as you can get.

The bigger the cheque book, the better the boat, the more chance of grabbing line honours and bragging rights for another year.

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At the risk of offending the six billionaires in Australia who can actually afford to indulge their boyhood fantasies by grappling with the high seas, surrounded by sporting stars, this sort of sailing is a nonsense.

It is as far removed from what Aussie sport should be that it now rivals polo as the only pursuit in the world that is designed for those who can afford it. In fact, polo is positively working class compared with the dollars spent on making big boats go really fast.

The Sydney to Hobart has become a battle of big egos - who has the latest technology, best computerised navigation system, the latest carbon fibre doo dads. Luck plays very little part and there is barely a hint of the serendipity that keeps you on the edge of your seat watching normal sports.

Quite frankly, the evening news bulletins featuring a speck on the horizon and a satellite interview with the skipper, is not exactly riveting.

Ragamuffin sits off Merimbula in a race that has become purely a battle of big egos. Picture: Brett Costello Source: News Limited

The America's Cup is in a similar realm. Two billionaires buy boats, inject them with the equivalent of technological steroids and hire guns from all over the world to race them.

This is all done under a sail sporting a country's flag, making a mockery of the idea that you should represent the country in which you were born.

There were more Kiwis and Australians on the American boat that won the America's Cup than there were in the New Zealand crew.

Sailing is in itself one of the oldest and most noble of pursuits. When it is man against the elements, in small boats that perform miracles at the hands of deft helmsmen, it is a genuinely athletic pursuit.

Unfortunately, the Sydney to Hobart has lost its way as more and more big money has found its way onto five or six maxi yachts.

There is no limit to the spending, no rules to constrain the seriously rich that level up the playing field. Winning on handicap holds little appeal to these guys - it's all about being first across the line for maximum exposure and ego boosts.

As you read this, one or other of these boats will be preparing to cross the line. Tens of millions have been spent on a victory.

Those mass participation sports relying on raffle tickets or sausage sizzles to stay afloat can only dream of the cash thrown at Sydney to Hobart yachts.

I really don't care who wins. I bet most of us don't either.

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