Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
Ronald Epstein, owner/skipper of the new JPK 11.80, Bacchanal, found himself a little bit star-struck he sat in the middle of the heavyweight panel for the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Overall Contenders press conference at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) today.
“I find myself a little mystified being surrounded by these incredible sailors with their great experience,” the Californian yachtsman said ahead of his first Rolex Sydney Hobart.
“I’m a lifelong day sailor who started to race a couple of years back,” the bemused Epstein said.
“I think our campaign is the triumph of joy and optimism over good sense that a San Francisco Bay sailor comes out here to sail in the Sydney Hobart,” Epstein said of why he named the yacht Bacchanal, which he christened yesterday at the CYCA.
And what a great debut Bacchanal has had. With her majority Australian crew, she placed sixth in her first race, the Bird Island (November) and third in the Cabbage Tree Island (early December) race.
Built at Innovation Composites in Nowra, NSW, was she christened yesterday with Tasmanian Jansz, “Under the idea that it would be the first of Tasmanian water that the boat would taste, but not the last.”
The yacht, he said, is named after Bacchus – the Roman god of wine, hedonism and joy.
“So, Bacchanal means it is our party – our wine soaked, happy, joyful party of being out on the sea,” Epstein said.
Epstein hopes that when the boat crosses the finish line, the crew will be celebrating an overall win for his first ever Sydney Hobart.
“I think it would be tremendous, not just to wave the American flag, but to show that it doesn’t take 30 years of sailing to win,” Epstein said.
Adrian Stead, tactician and driver on the Botin 52 Caro (INZL) believes “there’s at least 10 boats that have got a very good chance of winning,” according to the current off the wind forecast. They are preparing for a low-pressure weather system to hit Tasmania by the end of December 27.
The professional sailor from the UK, says the yacht has a chance at bettering its third overall in 2022.
“We feel like we’ve done our homework. We feel like we’ve got the boat ready for whatever gets thrown at us,” Stead said.
The crew aboard Anthony and David Johnston’s Reichel/Pugh 72 URM Group look forward to the downwind forecast. Johnston, who this year will be joined by all four brothers, has his fingers crossed that this will be his year. In 2023 they placed a close second to Alive.
URM Group in the 2023 RSHYR. Credit: Rolex | Andrea Francolini
“We’ve done a couple of boat modifications that should improve our downwind performance,” Johnston said.
David Griffith isn’t as keen on the forecast, but knows his JV62, Whisper and his crew, have got what it takes.
“I think it’s a very hot fleet,” Griffith said. “We personally prefer more shifty, dodgy sort of weather to sneak around a few of the boats.
David Griffith at the Overall Contenders Press Conference. Credit: CYCA | Ashley Dart
“But we’re feeling pretty good. The boat’s done amazing things. It’s a strong boat and we hope we’ll get through without any problems.”
Jules Hall, owner and co-skipper of double handed entry, Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth, said: “This morning’s best weather routing, has got us getting into Hobart at about 1am on December 30 – a hell of a lot quicker than we’ve done before.”
Hall and co-skipper Jan ‘Clogs’ Scholten, aim to replicate their 2021 Sydney Hobart win in the Double Handed Division. Rupert Henry and co-skipper Corentin Douguet are their major competition. Having won the division in 2022 and again in 2023 when they finished an impressive sixth overall.
“Both boats [Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth and Mistral] are going to push bloody hard. There will be no prisoners taken,” Hall said.
