Lee Condell of Limerick has been building a successful career in the marine industry in Australia for some time now. But with his 60th birthday approaching and the much-mourned death of his father - regional sailing development enthusiast Alan Condell - in Limerick at the height of the lockdown, he felt that the up-grading of the Two-handed Division to full competitor status in the up-coming 628-mile Sydney-Hobart Race offered a manageable challenge for something special, both to honour his father’s memory, and to acknowledge his own six decades on the planet.
He undertook what was at times a strong winds event with Lincoln Dews as shipmate on the Sun Fast 3300 Sun Fast Racing, and at one stage they were shown as leading the two-handed division, despite being one of the smallest boats in the fleet.
They were back at third coming into the Derwent on the way to he finish at Hobart in the dark - notoriously difficult conditions. Yet they made such a good job of it that Sun Fast Racing came across the line to place second on corrected time in the Two-Handed Division.