Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
A strong fleet of 115 boats is entered for the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, which begins on Sydney Harbour at 1pm Monday 26 December.
There are 8 international boats in the race, including entrants from Germany (Orione), Hong Kong (Antipodes), Hungary (Cassiopeia 68), New Caledonia (Eye Candy and Poulpito), New Zealand (Caro), the United Kingdom (Sunrise) and the United States of America (Warrior Won).
Four 100-foot maxis will lead the charge for Line Honours – Andoo Comanche, Black Jack, Hamilton Island Wild Oats and LawConnect.
Black Jack won Line Honours in the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart, while Andoo Comanche holds the race record (1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds) and Hamilton Island Wild Oats (formerly Wild Oats XI) has the most Line Honours wins in race history, with nine.
Among the chasing pack will be Philip Turner’s Reichel/Pugh 66 Alive (the 2018 Overall winner, skippered by Duncan Hine), Sean Langman’s Reichel/Pugh 69 Moneypenny, the Botin 80 Stefan Racing (skippered by Grant Wharington), Anthony and David Johnston’s Reichel/Pugh 72 URM Group (skippered by Marcus Ashley-Jones), Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant’s Volvo 70 Willow (skippered by Cooney) and David Griffith’s JV62 Whisper.
Moneypenny leads the 2022/23 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore, seven points ahead of URM Group.
The 52-foot grand prix racing yachts are expected to again be competitive. There are 13 in total, including Caro andWarrior Won (winner of the 2022 RORC Caribbean 600), as well as local contenders Celestial (Sam Haynes), Gweilo (Matt Donald/Chris Townsend), Maritimo (Bill Barry-Cotter’s newly purchased boat, skippered by Michael Spies), Quest (Craig Neil), Smuggler (Sebastian Bohm) and Zen (Gordon Ketelbey). The TP52 Ocean Crusaders J-Bird will be sailed two-handed by Ian and Annika Thomson.
Two-handed entrants will for the first time be eligible to win the Tattersall Cup. A total of 22 two-handed boats are preparing to race, including those that finished second and third respectively in the race’s inaugural Two-Handed Division last year – Crux (Carlos Aydos/Peter Grayson) and Speedwell (Campbell Geeves/Wendy Tuck).
Rum Rebellion (Shane Connelly/Tony Sutton) leads the Two-Handed Division of the 2022/23 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore and is seventh overall.
There are five Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300s in the two-handed fleet – Hip-Nautic (Jean-Pierre Ravanat/Drew Meincke), Kraken 111 (Rob Gough/John Saul – the two-handed Line Honours winners in 2021 on Sidewinder), Sun Fast Racing (Lee Condell/Lincoln Dews), Transcendence Crento (Martin Cross/John Cross) and Tumbleweed (Graham Biehl/Nigel Nattrass).
Rupert Henry and Greg O’Shea will be highly fancied on the Lombard 34 Mistral, having recently become the first two-handed boat to win one of the CYCA’s major races.
In the 30-50 foot range, keep an eye out for Alegria Republic (Rod Jones), Ariel (Ron Forster/Phil Damp),Chutzpah (Bruce Taylor), Cinquante (Kim Jaggar), Enterprise Next Generation (Anthony Kirke/Andrew Nuttman), Joss (Roberto Camacho), Midnight Rambler (Ed Psaltis), Sail Exchange (Carl Crafoord/Tim Horkings),Sunrise (Tom Kneen’s 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race winner), Trouble & Strife (Matt Williams) and White Bay 6 Azzurro (Shane Kearns).
Sail Exchange leads IRC Division 2 in the 2022/23 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore and is sixth overall. Cinquante, Midnight Rambler and White Bay 6 Azzurro all finished inside the top 10 overall in the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart.
The race will feature a Sydney 38 One Design division for the first time since 2019, with five Sydney 38s entered: Cinquante, Eye Candy (Thierry Leseigneur), Hasta la Vista (Jessica/Tom Grimes), Mondo (Lisa Callaghan/Stephen Teudt) and Poulpito (David Treguier).
At 9-metres in length, Sean Langman’s Ranger Maluka, to be skippered by his son Peter, is the smallest boat in the fleet. She is also the oldest, having turned 90 this year.
Currawong, to be sailed two-handed by Kathy Veel and Bridget Canham, is the second smallest.
The Royal Australian Navy’s Beneteau First 40 Navy One (co-skippered by Tori Costello and Nick Greenhill) will look to retain the Oggin Cup, awarded to the first Armed Services yacht on corrected time, from the Army Sailing Club’s Jarkan 925 Gun Runner (skippered by Chris Connelly).
Former Overall winners in the fleet include Alive, Hamilton Island Wild Oats, Quest and Wild Oats (Brett Eagle).
Andoo Comanche, Black Jack, Hamilton Island Wild Oats, Kialoa II (Paddy and Keith Broughton) and LawConnect are the previous Line Honours winners racing again.
