“I lost a lot of sleep last night thinking about how close it was, but that’s racing and these are the stakes.”

Winning told the tale in response to Comanche’s irresistible favouritism for this year’s Sydney to Hobart.

“We can’t get complacent, we can’t get comfortable because when we do, that’s when mistakes will happen,” he said.

“With two 100-footers that weigh 30 tonnes each, we came within a metre of our two masts hitting at a very high pace. It could’ve been really bad, and I take full responsibility for how close it was.

“These are big, fast dangerous boats with low visibility and big, powerful sails. It takes a lot of very, very good sailors and experienced people to make it all come together and seem seamless.

“When it’s not seamless, it’s a disaster. The people on one side assumed the other side knew what they were saying, but the words weren’t coming clear because there’s loud winches, engines and five people yelling all at once.

“We had really bad comms on our boat and I put my hand up as a skipper to say, ‘It’s got to be better than that’ and ‘I take responsibility’. It was a definite wake-up call.”

LawConnect will be Comanche’s main challenger following back-to-back second-place finishes this week ahead of 2021 Sydney to Hobart winner Black Jack.

The near-collision aside, LawConnect owner and skipper Christian Beck is quietly chuffed with his crew’s progress, if resigned to bride’s maids duties again when the Boxing Day race kicks off.

“If Comanche wasn’t here we’d be looking really good right now, but they are here, so we have to make the best of that situation,” Beck said.

“In this Sydney to Hobart, we can only really win if Herman makes a mistake, but we live in hope of that; otherwise we’ll probably come second.

“I’ve made a few mistakes,” Winning quipped straight back.

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