How two shocking deaths just hours apart have added to the Sydney to Hobart race's dark past
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Tragically, history has repeated itself in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, with two deaths on day one of this year's competition adding to the deadly past of the iconic national sporting event. Nick Smith, 65, was killed while racing on Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron's boat, Bowline, around 2am on Friday.
![[Smith was struck approximately 30 nautical miles east/north-east of Batemans Bay and couldn't be revived with CPR (pictured, Bowline at the start of this year's race)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/27/03/93501071-14228965-The_crew_member_aboard_Bowline_was_struck_approximately_30nm_eas-a-33_1735271672718.jpg)
He was struck by the boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail, approximately 30 nautical miles east/north-east of Batemans Bay and fell unconscious. Smith was the second sailor to die in this year's race after 55-year-old Western Australian man Roy Quaden was killed after also being struck by the boom onboard Flying Fish Arctos around two hours earlier.
![[Sailor Roy Quaden's death aboard Flying Fish Arctos occurred around 30 nautical miles east-south east of Ulladulla on the NSW south coast shortly before midnight on Thursday (the yacht's sail boom is circled)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/27/03/93505363-14228965-The_incident_aboard_Flying_Fish_Arctos_occurred_around_30_nautic-a-34_1735271723680.jpg)
Aussies are likely to recall the infamous 1998 race, during which six people lost their lives as wild conditions - including 20-metre-high waves - caused utter carnage among the field. Only 44 of the competing 115 yachts finished in the Apple Isle, with most forced to turn back rather than risk their lives.
![[With a second man also dying this year, the tragedies evoked memories of the 1998 race, where waves as high as 20 metres hammered the field (pictured)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/27/04/7810400-14228965-With_a_second_man_also_dying_the_tragedies_evoked_memories_of_th-a-85_1735274037565.jpg)
Nick Smith, 65, was tragically killed while racing on Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron's boat, Bowline, around 2am on Friday when competing in the Sydney to Hobart. Smith was struck approximately 30 nautical miles east/north-east of Batemans Bay and couldn't be revived with CPR (pictured, Bowline at the start of this year's race).
![[John Stanley's ship, the Winston Churchill (pictured) was completely engulfed by the ocean during the deadly 1998 race]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/27/03/7810402-14228965-Stanley_s_ship_the_Winston_Churchill_pictured_was_completely_eng-a-35_1735271777311.jpg)
