2 sailor deaths result in muted celebrations on winning yacht in Sydney to Hobart race

Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney to Hobart line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital.

There were no such celebrations this year when defending champion LawConnect won the race in the early hours of Saturday morning, and with good reason: It came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race.

LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday. It had an elapsed time of 1 day, 13 hours, 35 minutes and 13 seconds, for the 628-nautical mile (722 miles, 1,160 kilometers) race that began Thursday in Sydney harbor.

Celestial V70 finished second, about 2 1/2 hours behind LawConnect, and Wild Thing 100 was third, about 25 minutes behind Celestial. Of the 104 starters, 29 had retired at sea or in port.

LawConnect crew member Tony Mutter said celebrations would be held privately out of respect of the two sailors who died. He said crew members were informed of the deaths on the morning of day two after a busy night battling the same stormy seas that caused the fatal accidents.

“I didn’t actually hear it on the first night. I heard it in the early hours of the next morning,” Mutter told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. “We were pretty busy. We were 100% focused on the race. Our navigator knew, and he had to just pick the right moment to let us know.”

Mutter said the crew became “more somber” after being told about the deaths — “we were absolutely surprised and just felt for the other competitors.”

On Friday, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, which administers the yacht race, said that one sailor each on entrants Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline were killed after being struck by the boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail.

Later the dead sailors were identified as Roy Quaden 55, from Western Australia state, a crew member on Flying Fish Arctos, and 65-year-old Nick Smith of South Australia, who was on Bowline.

New South Wales police said both yachts had been seized for evidence for a likely coroner's inquest. The Cruising Yacht Club said it would hold its own investigation.

Officials also said a sailor was washed overboard on another boat, but was rescued. That crew member was from Hobart yacht Porco Rosso, and he drifted a kilometer from the yacht before being rescued.

The incident triggered the crew member’s emergency position-indicating radio beacon, a safety device that must be worn by all sailors in the race.

“That is one of the most terrifying experiences that you can have,” said David Jacobs, vice-commodore of the CYCA. "(And) it was at night, which makes it tenfold more scary."

The deaths came 26 years after six sailors were killed in storms during the 1998 race, which initiated a state coronial inquest and mass reforms to the safety protocols — including the radio beacon on all sailors — that govern the race. There have been 13 fatalities in the 79-year history of the race, with four of those deaths resulting from sailor heart attacks.

The first all-Filipino crew of 15 sailors was entered in this year's race, but was among the retirements because of the weather. With veteran sailor Ernesto Echauz at the helm, Centennial 7 was one of six international entrants and includes sailors from the Philippines’ national team and the country's navy.

Grant Wharington, the Australian skipper of third-place Wild Thing 100 and a veteran around-the-world sailor, described the Hobart race as “testing and boat breaking."

“There’s some tragic things that have happened in the race this year," he said. "It makes you second-guess whether you should be doing it for yourself, for your own health, for your well-being, and for your family.

“At the end of the day, we challenge our own personalities and our bodies. We go and do these crazy things in life, and this is one of them, and we love it. I’ve done it 31 times. It holds great memories for me."

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Skipper of Philippines entry Centennial, Ernesto Echauz, center, gestures with his crew ahead of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

In this photo provided by Salty Dingo, Philippines entry Centennial sails towards the heads after the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

In this photo provided by Rolex, competitors sail towards the heads as they leave Sydney Harbour at the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex via AP)

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Vice Commodore David Jacobs, speaks to media following the deaths of two sailors during the Sydney Hobart yacht race at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, in Sydney, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

Bowline sails out of the heads following the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Paul Bramble/Rolex via AP)

Tony Mutter, left, skipper of Law Connect is presented with the Back Stay flag by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Vice Commodore David Jacobs, after winning line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Hobart, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

This image made from video provided by AUBC, CH9, CH7, CH9 shows sailing boat Flying Fish Arctos moored next to an ambulance at Jervis Bay, Australia, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AUBC, CH9, CH7, CH9 via AP)

Flying Fish Arctos sails out to sea following the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex via AP)

Crew of Law Connect pose for a photo after winning line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Hobart, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

Law Connect sails down the Derwent River to win line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Hobart, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

Law Connect sails down the Derwent River to win line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Hobart, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Cam Ward made NCAA history in his final college game.

The Miami quarterback threw a record-setting 156th touchdown pass of his college career Saturday, connecting with Jacolby George for a 4-yard score with 4:12 left in the first quarter of the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

That's the Division I — FBS and FCS — record, one more than Houston's Case Keenum threw for from 2007 through 2011.

Ward may not hold the record for long. Oregon's Dillon Gabriel — whose team could play as many as three games in the College Football Playoff — has 153 touchdown passes so far in his career, spanning six seasons at UCF, Oklahoma and now Oregon.

Either way, Ward is assured of finishing college with one of the top careers by any quarterback at any level.

He entered Saturday with 17,999 yards — 6,908 at Incarnate Word, 6,968 at Washington State and 4,123 at Miami — for the third-most in NCAA history behind only Keenum (19,217) and Gabriel (18,423).

And when it's all done, Ward will be on the touchdown list for a while as well.

The all-division NCAA record is 162 touchdown passes by John Matocha from Division II’s Colorado School of Mines from 2019 through 2023.

Tyson Bagent of Division II’s Shepherd threw for 159 touchdowns from 2018 through 2022. Braxton Punk of Division III’s Mount Union threw for 158 from 2019 through 2023; North Central’s Luke Lehnen, whose team will play in the Division III national championship game next month, also has 158 in his career.

After them, Alex Tanney of Division III’s Monmouth is fifth with 157 touchdown passes from 2007 through 2011, and Ward’s first touchdown on Saturday put him alone in sixth on the NCAA list.

Ward rewrote Miami's record book in 2024, his lone season with the Hurricanes. He will leave as Miami's single-season leader in yards, completions and touchdown passes. He was on pace entering Saturday to leave as the Hurricanes' leader in completion percentage — both for a season (65.8%, set in 2023 by Tyler Van Dyke) and for a career (64.3% by D’Eriq King in 2020 and 2021).

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Heisman Trophy finalist Cam Ward, of Miami, speaks at a college football press conference, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)