that would ruin christmas - sydney hobart 2018

I'd say it's not the skipper's fault, there would be a large committee behind that entry and they had past experience of chartering that boat. Skipper would be just a jockey.
It’s a badly written article. ‘Welded to the dock’ indeed – it used to be a notice riveted to the mast, but nowadays I guess a cable-tie would suffices! The vessel was arrested on the suit of the chartering crew, to protect them against the loss of their outgoings (AUD315K), so someone was on the ball to move that fast over Christmas and at Federal Court level. Given the relative values, the crew should not be out of pocket, as it is implied that the insurance certificate was a fake. If so, that is plain fraud by the owners/agent so we will hear more of this. But it is disappointing for the Polskis.