Supermaxi Luxury Yacht & Superyacht News

2012 RORC Caribbean 600 yacht race with start on 20th February

January 27, 2012

With less than one month to go, to the fourth edition of the RORC Caribbean 600, the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s 2012 programme starts with a sensational cast in Antigua. The RORC Caribbean 600 is a truly international affair, with well over 500 competitors from at least 24 different nations taking part. More than 30 beautiful yachts are expected to participate in a high-speed, action-packed yacht race around 11 Caribbean islands.

Setting off from Antigua in the 2011 RORC Caribbean 600 Credit Tim WrightPhotoaction.com

Setting off from Antigua in the 2011 RORC Caribbean 600 Credit: Tim Wright/Photoaction.com

There can be few sporting events that can boast such a worldwide appeal with sailors taking part from all over the world including: Antigua, Australia, Austria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Croatia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey and the United States of America.

This astounding diversity of nationalities is matched only by the astonishingarray of yachts and personalities. The largest yacht competing this year is the magnificent sailing yacht Hetairos with a waterline length of 200′. Hetairos superyacht is the world’s largest carbon composite sailing yacht. The 29 crew on board is composed of many Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and Jules Verne around the world veterans. The luxury yacht Hetairos is among the favourites to take line honours, but there are several other yachts more than capable of finishing in front.

67m Sailing yacht Hetairos - Credit Baltic Yachts

67m Sailing yacht Hetairos - Credit Baltic Yachts

In 2011 American George David skippered Rambler 100 yacht to smash the monohull course record, taking line honours and overall victory. David’s team is back, this time with the Reichel Pugh 90, Rambler yacht and they are unlikely to give up the title without a fight. The Spanish Volvo 70, Gran Jotti will be dwarfed by the super yacht Hetairos, but the former Telefonica Black has a venomous turn of speed and is quite capable of out pacing the entire fleet. On board there is a huge wealth of talent in the form of Spanish America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race sailors. These three are likely to be contenders for line honours, but overall victory under IRC is far more difficult to predict. A hot contender is Niklas Zennstrom’s Judel/Vrolijk 72 Rán yacht, which will be making its debut in the RORC Caribbean 600.

Rán navigator, Steve Hayles is one of the world’s most experienced offshore sailors but this will be the first time he has tackled the intricate course around the central Caribbean, “For me it’s very refreshing to tackle a new race and the Caribbean 600 is a real fascination,” explained Hayles. “It’s unlike any other offshore race in that the average leg is only about 40 miles and for a navigator there is a lot to consider. Normally, a race is all about the weather and strategy but in addition to all that, this race takes you back to the basic problem of navigating around so many rocks and islands. Looking through all the legs, there is a broad mixture of sailing angles; there is a fair bit of reaching, but it is wrong to think that is not a challenge, especially with the speed sensitivity of modern high-performance boats. The course is more like a whole stream of complex coastal races. I have to say that it is a pretty unique race.”

Niklas Zennstrom's JudelVrolijk 72 Rán Credit Jody Sallons DayAntigua Sailing Week

Niklas Zennstrom's JudelVrolijk 72 yacht Rán Credit: Jody Sallons Day/Antigua Sailing Week

A dazzling variety of yachts crewed by some of the world’s finest will be racing this year. However, not all of the competitors are seasoned professionals. One of the smallest yachts competing this year is J/39 Sleeper, which will be raced two-handed by a father and son team. Jonty Layfield and son Jack are both RORC members and hale from Brighton, UK.

Last year with a full crew, Jonty’s won class at Antigua Sailing Week, “Sailing Two-Handed with my son, I don’t expect to be very competitive, we are not going to go flat out but treat the race more like a delivery trip,” admitted Jonty. “I have raced double-handed with my son back in England and I have been sailing with Jack since he was about five years old, we are more like friends than father and son. The great thing about sailing is that you have to get on with it; you can’t have any histrionics. Jack is working in Brazil at the moment and the RORC Caribbean 600 is a great way to spend a few days together.”

Close duels are expected right through the fleet, none more so than in the Class 40s where a hard fought and close encounter is expected. Tradewind sailing provides perfect conditions for Class 40s, with long reaches and downwind legs, these pocket rockets are capable of surfing at speeds of up to 25 knots. Peter Harding’s 40 Degrees yacht has Hannah Jenner as skipper, the only female to skipper the Clipper Round the World Race.

Hannah Jenner on Peter Harding's 40 Degrees in the 2011 Transat Jacque Vabre Credit Alexis Courcoux

Hannah Jenner on Peter Harding's 40 Degrees yacht in the 2011 Transat Jacque Vabre Credit: Alexis Courcoux

Hannah was in fine form last year, gaining a podium position in the Class 40 Transat Jacques Vabre, “Antigua is a beautiful place to start the season with some winter sunshine and I have heard that Antigua Yacht Club provides a great party!” smiled Hannah. ” The race course has plenty of activity with sail changes and the competition should be really close. Making the right tactical decisions will also be very important if we are to be the fastest Class 40 around the track. I am really looking forward to the race.”

RORC Chief Executive Eddie Warden Owen believes that the RORC Caribbean 600 is especially attractive to larger yachts, however the ethos of the club maintains equal status to every participant.  “A wide spectrum of yachts and competitors has decided that this is an event that is not to be missed. The club is delighted that people from all over the world want to take part. There is a mixture of world class sailors and corinthian enthusiasts, but they all have one thing in common, a passion for offshore racing.”

“This average length of yacht for this year’s entry is over 70′. When the Royal Ocean Racing Club started this race in 2009, we felt it would appeal to larger yachts and that has proved to be the case. This year we have a significant number of Racing Maxis, Super Yachts and Spirit of Tradition yachts. However, every yacht competing in the RORC Caribbean 600 is governed by the same set of rules. All of the competitors receive a warm welcome from the Antigua Yacht Club, regardless of their finish time or place. Since 1925, The Royal Ocean Racing Club has promoted offshore racing for all and in many ways the RORC Caribbean 600 typifies that cause.”

Les Voiles de Saint-Barth 2011: Revving up for a Best-Ever Edition

January 20, 2012

The Les Voiles de Saint-Barth is just three years young and is already preparing for its third annual running, held in April 2-7. Taking place on the beautiful French island in the northeastern Caribbean, the yacht regatta continues to show signs of healthy growth and popularity with a roster that promises not only to expand by almost a third over last years 47 entrants but also to showcase the best sailing talent as well as some of sailings most fantastic racing machines.

Les Voiles de Saint-Barth 2011 - Day 6 Christophe Jouany Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

Les Voiles de Saint-Barth 2011 - Day 6 Credit: Christophe Jouany/Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

With more entries, we are able to have more classes, making the racing tighter in each, said LVSB Competition Manager Annelisa Gee, who pointed out that robust numbers in spinnaker racing have already allowed for a split into two classes for that division. The event also will be appending its Notice of Race to accommodate IRC racing for a class of 52 footers that will include Peter Cunninghams (Georgetown, Grand Cayman) Powerplay, Jim Swartzs (Park City, Utah, USA) Vesper, Irvine Laidlaws (Monaco) Highland Fling, and Ashley Wolfes (Calgary, AB, Canada) Mayhem.

The news of the collapse of the MedCup (official international competition of the TP52 and Soto 40 classes) is bad for the grand prix corporate-sponsored end of the sport but okay for the rest of us said Powerplay project manager and crew member Tony Rey (Middletown, R.I.), a three-time Americas Cup veteran, as all the existing TP52s will race together under IRC in 2012 at several fantastic Mediterranean venues. With eight IRC 52s, including Powerplay, currently competing in Key West, Rey knows that having four already signed up for Les Voiles de Saint Barth insures yet another worthy contest right before the yacht is scheduled to ship overseas.

Les Voiles de Saint-Barth 2011 - Christophe Jouany Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

Les Voiles de Saint-Barth 2011 - Photo by: Christophe Jouany/Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

“We’ve had a great year developing the Powerplay team”, said Rey, explaining that Powerplay Racing was founded in 2011 even before Cunninghams acquisition of the TP52 yacht (formerly named Synergy), which has been admirably representing the Cayman Islands in regattas mostly on the East and West Coasts of the U.S. Peter is really excited to get back down to the Caribbean with this yacht.

Not the least of Powerplays worries, Vesper will be sporting much of the same crew that helped Jim Swartz win Les Voiles de Saint-Barth last year and has been sailing with him since he took the boat over from Quantum Racing about a year ago. While Swartz drives, Gavin Brady will call tactics and Francesco Mongelli will navigate. Mongelli navigated the TP52 Quantum Racing to a TP52 Worlds victory in 2011.

Sailing Yacht Vesper Christophe Jouany Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

Sailing Yacht Vesper Credit: Christophe Jouany/Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

Sailing under CSA (Caribbean Sailing Association) measurement rules will be additional classes for maxi yachts (75 feet/22.86 meters and longer), racing yachts (spinnaker and non-spinnaker), classic yachts and multihulls.

Peter Harrisons 115´ charter yacht Sojana, the 35m Farr design that has been participating for years in grand prix racing events around the world, will serve as the events flag ship, of sorts, as Harrison has been tapped as the 2012 events ceremonial Godfather, a distinction that last year was bestowed upon singer Jimmy Buffet.

Les Voiles de Saint-Barth 2011 - DAY 5 Christophe Jouany Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

Les Voiles de Saint-Barth 2011 - DAY 5 Credit: Christophe Jouany/Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

Though Harrison is not expected to perform on the music stage, the famous philanthropist will no doubt aspire to make the awards platform after sailing against such other power house entries in the super maxi class as the 112´ (34m) Baltic sailing yacht Nilaya, the 112´ (34m) Nautor Swan charter yacht Highland Breeze, the 115´ (35m) Classen Yachtbouw super yacht Firefly and the 90´ (27.4m) Reichel/Pugh Rambler superyacht.

This is obviously a very strong competitor group and it will be difficult for the luxury yacht Sojana and crew to retain or improve on its third (finish) position in 2011, said Harrison, who counts this as his third time competing in the Les Voiles de Saint-Barth and senses that it is his strong sense of adventure and competitiveness that helped gain him the honor of being named its Godfather.

112´ super yacht Highland Breeze by Swan Nautor Christophe Jouany Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

112´ super yacht Highland Breeze by Swan Nautor Credit: Christophe Jouany/Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

Among the reasons Harrison gives for the yacht regattas success are its location, the impressive organization, the strength and quality of the competitiors, and of course the concomitant social and fun part of meeting the other crew.

“Nilaya is a relatively new boat, which in its first year won the Super Yacht Cup in Palma and the Super Maxi division in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Sardinia. We have a great team, which has been sailing together for several years on the owner’s (Filip Balcaen) previous boats”, said Bouwe Bekking, who will serve as tactician after having competed last year here aboard Highland Breeze. The crew is predominantly from Belgium and Holland and the owner will drive.

“Speaking to the competition he expects”, Bekking explained, “We are a cruiser/racer, with all the luxuries you can have onboard, but we will sail flat out. Sojana and Highland Breeze are the real competition, as it is apples to oranges to compare us to Rambler and Firefly. They are flat-out racers with no interiors, but we might be in for a surprise, as we have beaten many racers during the Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez.”

Peter Harrisons 115´ super yacht Sojana Christophe Jouany Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

Peter Harrisons 115´ super yacht Sojana Credit: Christophe Jouany/Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

While last year the luxury yacht Highland Breezes owner Ben Kolff hosted his employees on board for a chance to experience the exciting and – in this location, anyway – exotic world of grand prix sailboat racing, this year he has a crew of “hard core yachties. Bekking noted, however, that the crew is comprised predominantly of amateur sailors in combination with a few professionals.

Rambler yacht is quite the opposite with a largely professional crew. It won the inaugural Les Voiles de Saint-Barth with George David (Hartford, Conn.) steering, and last year, David won again at the helm of Rambler 100, a distance racer purpose-built for breaking records. The latter yacht lost its keel and capsized, however, in the 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race and was deemed unrecoverable for racing purposes. Reverting back to his 90-footer for the 2012 season, David has already won the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Race and plans to defend his 2011 RORC Caribbean 600 title (where he broke the monohull race record) before heading to Saint-Barth.

90´ ReichelPugh Rambler SuperyachtChristophe Jouany Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

90´ Reichel/Pugh Rambler Superyacht Photo by: Christophe Jouany/Les Voiles de Saint-Barth

With a Tuesday through Saturday schedule that includes four days of intense racing, the Les Voiles de Saint-Barth will kick off on Monday, April 2, with opening ceremonies and cocktails at the festive Race Village on the Quai General de Gaulle overlooking Gustavia Harbor, where the event is headquartered. One lay day has been reserved for competitors and friends to discover this quaint little collectivity of France, with events planned at Nikki Beach that include lunch and a surprise sporting challenge for all crews. Evening activities include off-site parties as well as post-racing bands and entertainment in the Race Village.

2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Victory On The 14th Attempt

January 02, 2012

The 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was notable thanks to its unexpected winner of the coveted line honours trophy, a worthy overall winner and a slow passage home for the smaller yachts.

Start of the race Photo: ROLEX/D. Forster

Start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Photo: ROLEX/D. Forster

The Boxing Day start of the 628 mile race south to Hobart was spectacular, with the 88-strong international fleet setting off from the heart of Sydney Harbour, with its iconic bridge and Opera House as a backdrop. The Heads and shoreline were teeming with spectators as news helicopters flew overhead. Leading the charge on the beat out of the Harbour was Bob Oatley’s maxi sailing yacht Wild Oats XI, the line honours winner in five out of the last six Rolex Sydney Hobarts.

Weather-wise the start of the race was fairly conventional with some fast running conditions for the afternoon, but with a dramatic 180 degree wind shift into the south forecast for the first evening. A swell from the north generated by the ex-tropical cyclone Fina, combined with this wind shift, created a horrific confused sea on the opening night, as the 30 knots southerly wind kicked in with a punch, gusting up to 40 knots. But it is these brutal, testing conditions competitors expect when they set out on the Rolex Sydney Hobart and give the event its reputation as one of the world’s toughest offshore yacht races.

Super Yacht WILD OATS XI passing Tasman Island Photo: ROLEX/K. Arrigo

Super Yacht WILD OATS XI passing Tasman Island Photo: ROLEX/K. Arrigo

For the crews it was a case of battening down hatches and muscling through and by the first morning there was an impressively low attrition rate with just two retirements. They were joined later by a third, the 2003 line honours winner Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing, suffering sail damage.

24 hours in and race favourite for line honours, the Mark Richards-skippered Wild Oats XI superyacht, was 11 miles ahead of Anthony Bell’s super maxi sailing yacht Investec Loyal, these two having broken away from Peter Millard’s Lahana with singlehanded round the world sailor Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss holding fourth on the water. On IRC handicap Roger Hickman, an old hand in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, competing in his 35th race, had pulled into the lead aboard his 1993 race winner, Wild Rose yacht.

INVESTEC LOYAL Superyacht escorted by spectator craft before crossing the finish line Photo: ROLEX/D. Forster

INVESTEC LOYAL Superyacht escorted by spectator craft before crossing the finish line Photo: ROLEX/D. Forster

For this Rolex Sydney Hobart Wild Oats XI had been ‘turboed’ with the addition of new twin daggerboards and a larger square-topped mainsail, but her dominance as the fastest boat in the race was called into question when at 20:00 on the second evening of the race she was overtaken by the similarly-sized, but older, Investec Loyal.

With the wind lightening and backing from the southwest into the southeast, so Wild Oats XI was caught in a wind hole. Her co-navigator, Ian Burns explained what happened: “They [Investec Loyal’s crew] were keeping track of how we were doing and the moment we stopped under a cloud with no wind under it, they basically sailed right around the outside of this large hole we were stuck in and came back above us. It was good work on their part.”

Super maxi sailing yachts INVESTEC LOYAL and WILD OATS XI close to the finish line on the Derwent River Photo: ROLEX/D. Forster

Super maxi sailing yachts INVESTEC LOYAL and WILD OATS XI close to the finish line on the Derwent River Photo: ROLEX/D. Forster

The theoretically faster super yacht Wild Oats XI managed to catch up and overtook Investec Loyal at 07:30 on the second morning of the race as the two boats were sailing down the east coast of Tasmania. For the rest of the morning followers of the race were on the edge of their seats as the two boats match raced around the remainder of the course.

As they rounded the south side of Tasman Island, so Wild Oats XI was becalmed again and, taking their chance, Investec Loyal once again pounced, sailed around the outside of them to regain the lead. Crossing Storm Bay and sailing up the Derwent River to the finish, the Wild Oats XI crew, sailing with many of Australian yachting’s elder statesmen and women on board, threw all they could at Investec Loyal, but it was not enough. Investec Loyal crossed the finish line at 19:14:18 local time, after 2 days 6 hours 14 minutes and 8 seconds at sea, just 3 minutes and 8 seconds ahead of Wild Oats XI. This was the fourth closest finish in the 67 year history of the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Unfortunately celebrations were dampened when the line honours winner was protested by the race committee. This was over a conversation between Investec Loyal tactician Michael Coxon and a helicopter pilot on the first morning of the race in which Coxon enquired about whether the mainsail or the trysail was being used on board Wild Oats XI. Investec Loyal’s line honour victory was finally confirmed when, after a three hour long protest hearing, the International Jury concluded that Coxon, in his capacity as Managing Director of North Sails Australia, had made the enquiry about Wild Oats XI’s new 3Di mainsail for professional reasons and this in no way had benefitted Investec Loyal’s performance during the race.

Tattersalls Cup and Yacht-Master timepiece for Overall Handicap winner and Line Honours winner Photo: ROLEX/D. Forster

Tattersalls Cup and Yacht-Master timepiece for Overall Handicap winner and Line Honours winner Photo: ROLEX/D. Forster

“It was one of the great experiences in my life,” said Anthony Bell, yacht Investec Loyal’s owner and skipper of his win. “The whole thing from the very start, right through to the finish line, was exhilarating. It was a really tough fought out race, but the crew believed in the boat and the cause right from the start and we are so happy to have got past the finish line first.”

Bell’s campaign doubled as a vehicle to raise money for charity (it raised Aus$ 1 million in 2011) on this occasion for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, which purchases vital medical equipment for 178 children’s hospitals around Australia and East Timor. For this reason among their crew were a number of celebrities including sports stars, such as Australian rugby union internationals Phil Kearns and Phil Waugh.

As the slower yachts were becalmed in Storm Bay and up the Derwent River, so it became evident that this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart would be one for the smaller large boats, including the competitive 50ft fleet. However the stand-out boat in this size range was Stephen Ainsworth’s Reichel Pugh 63, Loki. Over the last 18 months this has proved to be one of the most successful campaigns in on the Australian circuit. Under IRC, Loki’s corrected time was 50 minutes faster than that of Michael Hyatt’s Farr 55 Living Doll, with 84 year old Syd Fischer’s modified TP52 Ragamuffin third and the Cookson 50 Jazz of Britain’s Chris Bull, fourth.

“We are elated. It is a fantastic feeling, a huge thrill to win this race,” said a jubilant Ainsworth, after being presented with a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece by Patrick Boutellier of Rolex Australia and the coveted Tattersall’s Cup, for winning IRC handicap honours. “Having done 14 races, I know how hard it is to win this race. So many things have to go right for you and the wind gods were with us. Our race went extremely well. The aim for the navigators was to avoid stopping and we successfully did that, although we came close a couple of times. Look at what happened to Wild Oats XI – that could easily have happened to us.”

Ainsworth’s crew, led by Irish round the world sailor Gordon Maguire, was 18 strong, but of these only one third were professionals. “The handicap win came when the big boats parked up,” said Maguire. At one point the maxis had extended to almost 120 miles in front of them, but as they had slowed, so Loki had managed to reel back 60 miles.

Earlier in the race the competitive 40 and 45ft Beneteaus had been among the most promising on handicap along with Roger Hickman’s Wild Rose. However the progress of the smaller boats was hampered as the wind shut down for them as they manoeuvred around the east coast of Tasmania into Storm Bay and up the Derwent River leading up to Hobart.

Darryl Hodgkinson, skipper of the First 45 Victoire summed it up best: “I thought it was going to be a carbon copy of last year’s race where we sat in the Derwent. This year we actually camped in Derwent! The last miles from the Tasman Light to the finish typically take six to seven hours. On this occasion it took 15.”

A pre-race favourite among the smaller boats was the new Ker 40 AFR Midnight Rambler, but co-owner Ed Psaltis, winner of the race in 1998, said they had made some wrong tactical choices and, entering Bass Strait, ended up in a giant wind hole, entrapping them for six hours.

While there had been a strong turn-out in Hobart’s Constitution Dock to witness the end of the match race marathon between Investec Loyal and Wild Oats XI, this was rivalled when Australian youth solo round the world sailing phenomenon Jessica Watson arrived aboard Ella Baché another Challenge. Watson’s crew have now entered the history books as the youngest to take part in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, but having spent two and a half months training as a team prior to the start Watson was delighted with taking second place in the Sydney 38 class.

“It was really, really good, everything you would expect,” said Watson on her arrival. “We had three quite bouncy nights on the nose. We didn’t see any severe conditions, but there was some pretty uncomfortable stuff for quite a while there.”

Having previously sailed solo, Watson was full of praise for her crew. “The crew were awesome. It was the best sailing we’ve ever seen them do. It’s what we have been training for and they did exactly that. Everyone did an amazing job. All credit to them – I just held on for the ride.”

The last boat to arrive, crossing the line late in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve, was that of Sydney boatyard owner Sean Langman. Langman is best known for his attempts to win line honours in previous races, but on this occasion was sailing the wooden 1932 coastal cruiser/fishing boat, Maluka of Kermandie yacht as crew for his 18 year old son Peter.

This year’s race once again proved that to earn victory in the Rolex Sydney Hobart is something that takes persistence. As Gordon Maguire concluded: “I won this race in 1991 on an IOR 2 tonner Atara with Harold Cudmore. It was my second Hobart race and I thought ‘easy’. It has been 20 years since I won it again. I have won an awful lot of regattas in between and I do this race almost every year, so it is not an easy race to win. You can’t just come down here with the best boat in the world and win it. You have to come down here with the best boat in the world and have all the luck in the world – all that has to happen in the same race. It is a very unusual beast.”

2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Final Jockeying To Determine The Handicap Winner

December 29, 2011

With the line honours podium decided in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the main attention now moves to the handicap race under IRC for the Tattersall’s Cup.

LOKI, Stephen Ainsworth Photo D. Forster

Stephen Ainsworth´s Reichel Pugh 63 sailing yacht LOKI Photo: ROLEX/ D. Forster

Stephen Ainsworth’s crew on the successful Reichel Pugh 63 sailing yacht Loki is hoping that their corrected time in the race, that currently has them second under IRC, will elevate them to first place. This would give Ainsworth, who earlier this month was crowned the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 2011 Ocean Racer of the Year, the handicap win in the Rolex Sydney Hobart that has so far eluded him.

Assuming the crew on the current IRC leader, Roger Hickman’s Farr 43 super yacht Wild Rose, continue to sail as well as they have to date in this race, then it will take a down turn in conditions for them to be toppled.

This afternoon Hickman’s 1993 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race winner had just under 100 miles to go to the finish.

Super yacht LOKI, Stephen Ainsworth Photo D. Forster

Super yacht LOKI Photo: ROLEX/ D. Forster

From on board Jennifer Wells reported: “We’ve been up with the leaders most of the time. At approximately 2.30pm we were 75 nautical miles from the Tasman Light in fluky winds. It’s been fabulous sailing down the east coast of Tasmania, but we’re hoping we’ll get better breeze. We’re ecstatic to be able to do so well in such an old boat’ that won the race in 1993.”

“It was wet and rough the first night, especially off Pambula. It was quite easy coming across Bass Strait – easier than sailing down the south coast.”

Of her skipper, Roger Hickman, currently sailing his 35th Rolex Sydney Hobart, Wells said: “It’s a benevolent dictatorship. The crew are very excited to sail on what was the original Wild Oats.”

WILD ROSE, Roger Hickman Photo D. Forster

Roger Hickman´s WILD ROSE superyacht Photo: ROLEX/D. Forster

However an area of high pressure is moving over the race area, bringing sunshine to the spectators turning out in Hobart, but also a drop in wind strength off the east coast of Tasmania. While Wild Rose yacht has a little in the bank in terms of her lead, we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out if Hickman can achieve his second win.

Latest arrivals

Meanwhile more yachts have arrived in Hobart, the latest being Jim Cooney’s former line honours winner, yacht Brindabella, home in 12th place on the water. Ahead of the classic 1990s maxi there has been a major showdown between the Rolex Sydney Hobart’s competitive fleet of 50 footers.

Home in 11th place, 16 minutes before Brindabella was Robert Date’s Reichel Pugh 52, Scarlet Runner superyacht.

BRINDABELLA passing Tasmania's iconic Organ Pipes Photo K. Arrigo

Sailing yacht BRINDABELLA passing Tasmania's iconic Organ Pipes Photo: ROLEX/ K. Arrigo

“We started off very well up until the time the sun went down on the first night, but we had a problem where we lost all our instruments, so we had to sail like blokes used to about 50 years ago with dead reckoning and a sextant!” said Date, adding that because of this they had lost around 15-20 miles on the competition and this they were unable to regain.

However this was not the end of their problems and at one stage Date said they were lucky not to dismast. “We lost one of the lower diagonal stays when the pin that holds it in came out. One of the crew managed to spot it and we grabbed it and changed on to the opposite tack and put that all back together. If we hadn’t spotted that in time we would have lost the mast.”

Aside from the yacht Date admitted that he had also had a few issues of his own during the race, suffering a fall in the cockpit and on one occasion when the bunk he was in, on the weather side, gave way and he was propelled down to the leeward side of the yacht.

Jason Van der Slot and John Williams’ Victorian crew on the modified TP52 Calm (formerly Stuart Robinson’s Stay Calm) were the first of the TP52s home, arriving in Hobart 11 minutes ahead of Chris Bull’s Cookson 50 Jazz, to take eighth place on the water.

They too had rigging issues. “We had a D1 pop out after Gabo on the first morning,” said Van der Slot. “We lost about six hours just making sure the rig was okay. From there we pumped the boat pretty hard and we managed to get in front of Ragamuffin and Jazz and we caught them up the river. We were eighth across the line but they might have got us on IRC. We are happy with how the boat performed – it was a good event.”

Van der Slot said that they had managed to regain lost ground on the Derwent river on the approach to Hobart thanks to local knowledge – he was born and bred here.

“The 50ft competition was amazing. Every time we tacked and gybed and crossed paths, it would be Ragamuffin there. I think we finished where we thought we would with the preparation we put in. We are a bit disappointed under IRC. We put a pretty hard campaign for this together nine months ago and we have got some good key people on board for this race. We are happy with where we finished up.”

2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Investec Loyal Superyacht Crowned Line Honours Winners

December 29, 2011

After a three hour hearing at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania before the International Jury, the Race Committee’s protest against sailing yacht Investec Loyal was dismissed and Anthony Bell and the crew of his 100ft supermaxi finally became the line honours winners in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Line Honours Winner INVESTEC LOYAL crossing the finish line Photo K. Arrigo

Line Honours Winner sailing yacht INVESTEC LOYAL crossing the finish line Photo: ROLEX/ K. Arrigo

This afternoon at the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2011 prizegiving, held in front of a crowd lining Constitution Dock, CYCA Commodore Garry Linacre, Lord Mayor of Hobart, Damon Thomas, and Patrick Boutellier of Rolex Australia presented Anthony Bell with the JH Illingworth Trophy and a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece for the line honours victory.

“It is the long way around in some ways,” said a delighted Anthony Bell. “It is very relieving to get to this point. There are rules in every sport and, while it wasn’t ideal to go through this, I think that ultimately it gets beyond any question and whatever those questions that were asked have been properly answered.”

Line Honours Winner INVESTEC LOYALs crew Photo D. Forster

Line Honours Winner Super Yacht INVESTEC LOYAL´s crew Photo: ROLEX/ D. Forster

As to their victory, when yesterday Investec Loyal beat Bob Oatley’s five time Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winning supermaxi super yacht Wild Oats XI to the Hobart finish line by a margin of just 3 minutes 8 seconds, Bell said: “We have come second to Wild Oats quite a lot. We came second last year to them and we kept coming second to them at Hamilton Island. It is an against-the-odds victory for us….I am still waiting for one of my crew members to wake me up and say you’re on watch!

INVESTEC LOYAL, Anthony Bell Photo K. Arrigo

INVESTEC LOYAL Superyacht, Anthony Bell Photo: ROLEX/ K. Arrigo

“The buzz is made best by the fact that Wild Oats XI is such a fantastic, professionally-run campaign by the Oatley family and, to have them compete so fiercely, it accelerated and heightened the value to us to go down the wire against a raceboat team like that.  They are the benchmark of supermaxi racing, not just in Australia, but in the world.”

Bell explained that the query to the ABC helicopter pilot about Wild Oats XI’s sails had been made by their tactician Michael Coxon. Coxon is also Managing Director of North Sails Australia and, after the strong winds of the first night at sea, he had been concerned about Wild Oats XI’s mainsail, made of their new product 3Di and believed to be the most expensive sail of its type in the world.

INVESTEC LOYAL Photo K. Arrigo

Supermaxi sailing yacht INVESTEC LOYAL Photo: ROLEX/ K. Arrigo

“One of the things that they did take was that Michael Coxon’s question was not to gain any advantage for our boat at all, but more to test how his business client’s product, that they bought off him, was going,” said Bell of the international jury’s decision.

10 yachts home
To date ten yachts of the 77 still racing (out of 88 starters) have arrived in Hobart, the latest being Syd Fischer’s modified TP52 Ragamuffin. Of the yachts now docked, Stephen Ainsworth’s Reichel Pugh 63 yacht Loki is currently favourite for the overall IRC handicap prize in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart. However still ahead of her on handicap is Roger Hickman’s 26 year-old Farr 43 Wild Rose. Still racing, she must finish before 08:12 local time tomorrow (30 December) if she is to beat Loki’s time under handicap.

Line Honours Prizegiving Ceremony Anthony Bell, owner of INVESTEC LOYAL and Patrick Boutellier, Rolex Australia Photo D. Foster

Line Honours Prizegiving Ceremony Anthony Bell, owner of INVESTEC LOYAL superyacht and Patrick Boutellier, Rolex Australia Photo: ROLEX/ D. Foster

Currently lying fourth under handicap is Michael Hiatt’s Farr 55 Living Doll, which was the sixth boat to reach Hobart, arriving at 08:46 local time this morning. Hiatt believes they lost a vital 15 minutes to Loki coming up the Derwent River on the approach to the finish. “It got back up to 30 knots and then we had a nice run up here, but it faded at the end of the Derwent,” he said.

The battle INVESTEC LOYAL and WILD OATS XI on the Derwent River Photo K. Arrigo

The battle: sailing yacht INVESTEC LOYAL and super yacht WILD OATS XI on the Derwent River Photo: ROLEX/ K. Arrigo

Unlike the maxi yacht leaders, which, from time to time, parked up over the latter half of their race, Hiatt said that on Living Doll they never stopped.

On the breezy first night at sea, they had seen 40 knots in the gusts. “It was really tricky. Some spooky breezes came in and they were pretty fierce. It would drop off to nothing and all of a sudden we’d get a lot more, so we had to handle that, but all of the transitions were really good. We just needed a tweak more speed.”

Hiatt sailed the race with a formidable crew including round the world race winners Steve Cotton and Noel Drennan and even had their own meteorologist on board in the form of Canadian Eric Holden.

The Maxis INVESTEC LOYAL and WILD OATS XI on the Derwent River Photo K. Arrigo

The Maxis INVESTEC LOYAL superyacht and sailing yacht bWILD OATS XI on the Derwent River Photo: ROLEX/ K. Arrigo

Seventh home this morning, 12 minutes after Living Doll was Matt Allen, former Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the Rolex Sydney Hobart organisers, aboard his first generation Volvo Open 70, Ichi Ban.

Ichi Ban had suffered a few issues during the race. On the first night the lock jammed, holding their main halyard, and in the strong conditions they were forced to spend the rest of the night sailing with three reefs. It was only on the following morning they were able to send a crewman aloft enabling them to hoist the sail fully once again.

LOKI, Stephen Ainsworth Photo D. Forster

Supermaxi sailing yacht LOKI, Stephen Ainsworth Photo: ROLEX/ D. Forster

“That meant we had a really poor first night and it was really hard to recover from there,” said Allen. “We also broke one of the D4s [rigging on the mast], but luckily we picked it up before, otherwise we would have lost the mast.”

RAGAMUFFIN, Syd Fischer Photo K. Arrigo

Super Yacht RAGAMUFFIN, Syd Fischer Photo: ROLEX/ K. Arrigo

Allen said that in 22 Rolex Sydney Hobarts, he had never previously seen such big wind shifts, especially coming down the coast of Tasmania. During the race they ended up using all the sails on board, with the exception of the heavy running spinnaker. “It was hard work for the navigators, but we had nice sailing for the last 24 hours, good reaching spinnaker work – it’s been really enjoyable. The run we had from Tasman Island to the finish was probably the best run I’ve ever had in my entire life.”

2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Closest Finish in 29 Years

December 28, 2011

The closest finish in the last 29 years of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was reported this evening when Anthony Bell’s supermaxi sailing yacht Investec Loyal managed to beat off repeated challenges from Bob Oatley’s perennial line honours victor Wild Oats XI superyacht to win by just 3 minutes and 8 seconds, after 2 days 6 hours 14 minutes and 8 seconds of racing on this classic 628 mile course.

Sailing yacht Investec Loyal on approach to the finish line Photo D. Foster

Sailing yacht Investec Loyal on approach to the finish line Photo: ROLEX/D. Foster

The competition for line honours in this race was one of the closest in its 67 year history with the two Australian maxis gunning for each other from the moment the canon was fired on Sydney Harbour on Monday afternoon. Wild Oats XI led until 20:00 local time (09:00 UTC) on Tuesday when they were becalmed.

“They [Investec Loyal’s crew] were keeping track of how we were doing and the moment we stopped under a cloud with no wind under it, they basically sailed right around the outside of this large hole we were stuck in and came back above us. It was good work on their part,” described Wild Oats XI’s co-navigator, Ian Burns.

Fortunately the wind filled in soon after for Wild Oats XI yacht and they were able to resume the fight and, from this point on, the event became truly a gloves-off match race between the two 100 footers.

Super yacht Investec Loyal takes the finish cannon Photo D. Foster

Super yacht Investec Loyal takes the finish cannon Photo: ROLEX/ D. Foster

Finally this morning at 07:30 local time, Wild Oats XI regained the lead. With rarely more than two miles separating the two yachts, it was not until Wild Oats XI was becalmed again just short of Tasman Island and the entrance to Storm Bay, that Investec Loyal managed once more to skirt around the wind hole. This time they took up residence directly ahead of their opponent and from that point, despite the best efforts of the luxury yacht Wild Oats XI crew led by Mark Richards, Investec Loyal was not going to be passed.

Much to the delight of spectators thickly lining Hobart’s Constitution Dock, the two ocean racing giants came into sight up the Derwent River, but it was Investec Loyal and her crew, including sports stars, such as Australian rugby union internationals Phil Kearns and Phil Waugh, which was first home. They arrived at 19:14:18 local time, their elapsed time for the course being 2 days 6 hours 14 minutes and 18 seconds.

“It was one of the great experiences in my life,” said Anthony Bell, Investec Loyal’s owner and skipper with a beaming smile. “The whole thing from the very start, right through to the finish line was exhilarating. It was a really tough fought out race, but the crew believed in the boat and the cause right from the start and we are so happy to have got past the finish line first.”

Anthony Bell, owner/skipper of Investec Loyal superyacht

Anthony Bell, owner/skipper of Investec Loyal superyacht

Michael Coxon, tactician on Investec Loyal shared his thoughts on their win: “It has a very competent professional crew and a great owner who does it all for the right reasons. It is like a fairy tale – a boat that supports charity. This boat raised Aus$ 1 million this year for charity. That is the way it should happen. I am very happy for Anthony Bell. We sail with people who have never gone sailing before and they did a really good job.”

In what was principally a tactical victory for the older Investec Loyal, Coxon paid tribute to their American navigator. “The difference is a gentleman called Stan Honey,” he said. “He is an absolute legend – just amazing. His knowledge of weather and weather routing and the information he provides to me…at the end of the day he is just so good.”

Investec Loyal – provision winner at this stage
However at present Investec Loyal’s line honours victory in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart is provisional. The event’s Race Committee, led by Tim Cox, is protesting Anthony Bell’s boat over a believed infringement of Racing Rule of Sailing 41 entitled ‘Outside Help’. This involved the audio recording of a conversation that took place at 06:30 local time on 27th December between the pilot of an ABC TV station helicopter and an Investec Loyal crewman seeking information on the sail plan in use on Wild Oats XI – in particular whether she was flying a trisail.

“This is assessed to breach Rule 41 by soliciting help from an outside source,” explained Garry Linacre, Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, organiser of the Rolex Sydney Hobart. The case is to be heard by the race’s international jury at 10:00 local time tomorrow, 29th December.

Gracious in defeat
On board second placed super yacht Wild Oats XI, skipper Mark Richards was categorical about the outcome. “Those guys won on the water and we came second. That’s all there is to it. They did a great job those guys and they deserve the win.”

Richards added that he thought it had been a fantastic race. “We had to work our butts off until the end and we came in second. That’s the way it is. They sailed very well. We were very unlucky in a few situations, but those guys did a great job and when it came to the crunch. Their boat was little bit quicker than us downwind in the lighter air and they just managed to keep their nose in front and got to the line first.”

Next up
The next two yachts expected to arrive in Hobart at around 01:00 tomorrow morning are Peter Millard and John Honan’s supermaxi yacht Lahana and Stephen Ainsworth’s Reichel Pugh 63 sailing yacht Loki.

The race for the Tattersall’s Cup, for handicap honours under IRC, remains wide open with Michael Hiatt’s Farr 55 Living Doll yacht ahead earlier this evening, but with Australian sailing legend, 84 year-old Syd Fischer and his modified TP52 Ragamuffin having taken the lead under IRC at the time of writing. Line Honours

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Maxi-boat Match Race

December 28, 2011

Sailing yacht Wild Oats XI’s position as the fastest boat in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was being severely tested last night when at the 20:00 sched (local time, 09:00 UTC), Anthony Bell’s maxi yacht Investec Loyal overhauled the five time line honours winner.

Sailing yacht INVESTEC LOYAL, Anthony Bell - Photo By Rolex Kurt Arrigo

Sailing yacht INVESTEC LOYAL, Anthony Bell - Photo By Rolex Kurt Arrigo

Overnight the wind the leaders have seen has clocked through 360 degrees.

Crossing the Bass Strait yesterday Investec Loyal’s track south was some 20-30 miles east of Wild Oats XI’s. But early evening, when the wind backed from the southwest into the southeast, both boats tacked southwest, Loyal getting the better of the shift, aggressively bearing away towards her opponent. Making 14 knots compared to Wild Oats XI’s 9 knots, within an hour Investec Loyal had pulled ahead by 6 miles.

WILD OATS XI, Bob Oatley Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

WILD OATS XI, Bob Oatley Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

Overnight the lead duo in the Rolex Sydney Hobart have continued to round the northwest quadrant of an area of high pressure that, since yesterday, has been shifting east out into the Tasman Sea. With the wind continuing to back into the northeast so the duo at around 01:00 local time this morning on this occasion gybed southwest, allowing them to close on the east coast of Tasmania.

“We’ve got a yacht race on our hands out here!” came back the succinct report from the Wild Oats XI nav team in the early hours. “We are high speed running – more wind shifts ahead.”

However at around 07:30 local time this morning, sailing yacht Wild Oats XI nosed her way back into the lead.

Sailing yacht WILD OATS XI, Bob Oatley Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

Sailing yacht WILD OATS XI, Bob Oatley Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

With another light patch off the southeast coast of Tasmania, so the boats remain still quite offshore, now with the wind back in the southwest, where it was yesterday afternoon. With 72 miles to go to the finish off Hobart for Wild Oats XI at the latest sched, leading Investec Loyal by just 1.5 miles, ETAs into Hobart remain vague. The forecast is now showing the wind dying in Storm Bay and up the Derwent River leading up to Hobart – conditions which have destroyed many a winning yacht’s chances in previous years.

Sailing yacht LOKI, Stephen Ainsworth Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

Sailing yacht LOKI, Stephen Ainsworth Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

Yacht LAHANA, Millard Honan Photo By Rolex Kurt Arrigo

Yacht LAHANA, Millard Honan Photo By Rolex Kurt Arrigo

ELLA BACHE, Jessica Watson Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

ELLA BACHE, Jessica Watson Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

SY CADIBARRA, Paul Roberts - Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

SY CADIBARRA, Paul Roberts - Photo By Rolex Daniel Forster

Under IRC handicap, the battle for the Tattersall’s Cup continues to rage, with the best hopes now back to the maxis. In particular Peter Millard’s maxi Lahana (the former Zana/Konica Minolta), holding third place on the water 62 miles astern of Wild Oats XI, is looking very strong. For at present across the race course conditions are generally light, with the exception of where Lahana, Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki and Alex Thomson’s IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss, are located off the east coast of Tasmania, where in 15-20 knot northerlies, Hugo Boss is recording the highest speed in the fleet of 17 knots.

2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Make or Break Night Ahead

December 27, 2011

At 1640 local time (0540 UTC) the leading supermaxi sailing yachts in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race were just over half way across Bass Strait, after the whole day in southwesterly winds that have been slowly decreasing from the 30 knots they saw last night and into this morning.

Spectators watch the fleet from South Head Photo D. Foster

Spectators watch the fleet from South Head Photo: D. Foster

Ian ‘Fresh’ Burns, co-navigator on line honours leader sailing yacht Wild Oats XI reported this afternoon there being 10-15 knots of wind from the southwest and this was allowing them to point “around 20 degrees low” of the Tasman Light (marking the entrance to Storm Bay still some 250 miles away). As a result they were further east than they might otherwise be. “It has been pretty good so far. We haven’t been becalmed or even slowed down. This is pretty much the lightest wind we have seen so far this trip.”

However Burns added that they were preparing for a most difficult night ahead. “It is going to be really really tough because we have a patch of light wind to fight our way through to get to the Tasmanian coast.” This is likely to involve a hitch west, which will happen if, as forecast, the wind backs into the southeast. Burns says they will then be aiming for a narrow band of favourable northerlies off the Tasman coast. Alas, there is one problem. “Between us and them there is a large 50-60 mile wide stretch of no wind and how we negotiate that and how that moves is really going to decide what we get.”

In addition to this since leaving Sydney Harbour yesterday Wild Oats XI superyacht has had a constant thorn in her side in the form of Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal supermaxi yacht. Over the course of today Loyal has dropped back to being 18 miles astern (in terms of distance to finish) but this is because she has been heading further east, with around 20 miles west-east split between the two yacht’s tracks this afternoon.

“It is going to be really difficult,” continued Burns. “Knowing the guys on Loyal as well as we do – Stan Honey and Michael Coxon – we know they will be throwing everything at us if it goes light, because when you are leading and the wind stops, the boat behind has a bunch of options to go around either side. I can see those guys plotting and scheming all evening to put us in a tough spot, but we will all be working our absolute hardest to keep things going. The guys are right now all concentrating on getting some rest while the boat is sailing along nicely to make sure we are in good shape tonight to throw everything at them that we need to.”

Tonight will be a lottery, or “nervous times” as Burns puts it. A couple of knots of difference in wind strength with a maxi can mean the difference of stuck at 0 knots or making 5 knots. Burns anticipates their arrival in Hobart tomorrow night before sunset, however if tonight does not go well then it could be Thursday morning, in which case Wild Oats XI’s seventh Rolex Sydney Hobart could also be her slowest ever.

Preparing for Bass Strait

Meanwhile the bulk of the fleet, from the 52 footers back, have spent the afternoon tight into the New South Wales coast. This is to enable them to set out into the powerful southwesterlies as they embark on their crossing of Bass Straight tonight, on the best possible course.

“Right now we have got about 16-18 knots and we are close reaching, with the no2 and full main, approaching Gabo Island, about another 40 miles from here,” reported Dirk Johnson, navigator on Rives Potts’ 1969-built Carina.  “We have a number of boats around us, all paralleling each other, waiting for the southwesterly breeze to come around the corner.”

According to Johnson, last night was bumpy, but in terms of wind strength he doesn’t remember seeing more than 29 knots. “It was a little uncomfortable. There were some bigger waves than we are used to seeing, but everyone did good and we held on and we had a good night.”

Johnson was looking forward to getting into the favourable current offshore tonight, but anticipated the wind generally getting lighter while a large meteorological question mark hangs over the rest of the race. As he states: “The situation changes dramatically from day to night and depending on where you cross the Strait, at different points on the Strait you can have different conditions. We are ready for everything I guess.”

While earlier the maxis were leading under IRC, as they have slowed so the smaller boats have pulled up the handicap standings. With Carina – which just four and a half months ago on the opposite side of the world, won her class in the Rolex Fastnet Race – up to third, so Roger Hickman’s 1985 Farr 43 super yacht Wild Rose is back in front again, from Stephen Ainsworth’s much tipped Reichel Pugh 62 yacht Loki in second. The Beneteau 40 footers – Lunchtime Legend, Balance, Two True and Victoire – currently just north of Eden this afternoon, remain in the top 10.

Jessica Watson

Fans of 18 year old Australian solo round the world sailor Jessica Watson will also be pleased to hear that her teenage team on Ella Bache is the top Sydney 38 under IRC (albeit fourth in class). Her crew of eight, including fellow youth solo round the world sailor, Britain’s Mike Perham, have been training for the Rolex Sydney Hobart for the last three months, a schedule that included a dry run, sailing their pink boat from Sydney to Hobart and back three weeks ago.

“We are quite excited because the forecast is similar to the forecast we had for our practice run,” says Watson, shortly before leaving yesterday. “So we’ve experienced almost those exact same conditions.”

Watson and her crew are aiming to be the youngest crew to complete the Rolex Sydney Hobart. However Watson says she has higher expectations. “We put a lot of time and energy into this, so we’ll be here to perform as well as possible particularly within our own division.”

This afternoon has seen four more retirements, leaving 81 boats still racing. The GP42 Duende pulled out after crewman Tom Wormald suffered a dislocated shoulder and was dropped ashore. Later Sam Chan’s Hong Kong-based TP52 Ffreefire 52, skippered by Anthony Day, headed back to Sydney after suffering mainsail problems. Finally Matthew Percy’s Beneteau First 44.7 Alacrity suffered rigging damage and was putting into Eden while Jonathan Stone’s Davidson 34 Illusion had hull damage and was returning to Sydney.

2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Into Bass Strait

December 27, 2011

At 11:00 local time (midnight UTC ), the leading vessels in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race were the sailing yacht Wild Oats XI and Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal superyacht 11 miles astern, just crossing Bass Strait. These two have now broken away from the fleet with Peter Millard’s super yacht Lahana third, 39 miles off the lead.

Sailing yacht Wild Oats IX entering Bass Strait Photo D. Foster

Sailing yacht Wild Oats IX entering Bass Strait Photo D. Foster

Further back still, Alex Thomson’s IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss yacht is fourth on the water, doing well to fend off the advances of Stephen Ainsworth’s all conquering Reichel Pugh 63 yacht Loki.

Yesterday evening local time, the fleet saw the wind clock around through 180 degrees as the front passed overhead, the wind kicking in with some violence from the south, putting the boats hard on the wind.

Stephen Ainsworth's Loki exiting Sydney Harbour after the start of the 67th Rolex Sydney Hobart Photo K. Arrigo

Stephen Ainsworth's Loki exiting Sydney Harbour after the start of the 67th Rolex Sydney Hobart Photo K. Arrigo

As Mike Broughton, navigator on Chris Bull’s Cookson 50 Jazz yacht recounted: “The front passed last night with quite a punch, with pelting rain that lasted for about 40 minutes, but kept things busy for Andy Hudson and the bow team, as we quickly had to change sails.” The rapid change in wind direction, and with the wind now counter to the south-going current, has kicked up an evil sea. Broughton described this as being 3-4m high, short and confused.

In the all-important IRC handicap battle for the Tattersall’s Cup, nothing clear is transpiring yet. At the time of writing Wild Oats XI, the biggest fastest boat in the fleet, had eased ahead, but previously leading had been the 1985-built Farr 43 Wild Rose, winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart in 1993 and skippered by race veteran Roger Hickman.  The smaller Beneteaus were also performing well – in particular Darryl Hodgkinson’s much tipped Beneteau First 45 Victoire, Paul Clitheroe’s 45 Balance and Andrew Saies on his 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart winning First 40, Two True.

At present the bulk of the fleet are still hugging the New South Wales coast where the wind is in the south and they are hard on the wind. However conditions have momentarily improved for the maxis out in Bass Strait where the wind, currently blowing 25-30 knots, has veered into the southwest allowing the boats to head south on starboard tack. But the forecast is indicating stop-start progress for the 100 footers.

The wind is due to fizzle out this afternoon (local time) as a small bubble of high pressure eases east off the coast of Tasmania. But once the high gets offshore, some northerly pressure could build close in to the Tasman coast, allowing the big boats to forge south once more.

Despite a first testing night at sea, to date there have only been three retirements from 88 starters. Just before midnight local time Sam Haynes’ Rogers 46 Celestial withdrew having suffered a broken gooseneck, while Marc and Louis Ryckmans GP42 Accenture (Yeah Baby) pulled out with unspecified gear failure.

Hot off the press is that 2003 line honours winner, Grant Warrington ‘s Wild Thing yacht is the latest retirement, having suffered sail damage. At the time of her pulling out she was holding third place on the water.

The first day of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

December 27, 2011

On Monday, December 26, Sydney Harbour was full of spectators expecting the 1300 local time departure of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with 88 fleet ready at the start line.

Start of the 67th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Photo D. Forster

Start of the 67th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Photo: D. Forster

Earlier in the morning, four Melbourne-based crews had been affected by last night’s severe storm as they attempted to fly up to Sydney for today’s start. Some didn’t make it while others did, but without their foul weather gear.

“There were huge thunder storms, 120km/h winds, trees down, 25mm diameter hailstones,” recounted Robert Date, skipper of one of the affected boats, the Reichel Pugh 52 Scarlet Runner yacht. “We hope we don’t get that tonight, although I think we might.”

Leading the charge out of Sydney Harbour was the mighty 100 footer sailing yacht Wild Oats XI, with Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal superyacht hanging on to her coat tails. In fact the start had not gone as smoothly as planned for Bob Oatley’s serial line honours winner. During pre-start manoeuvres the drive unit for the main sheet winch had frozen up and for the start they had to transfer the main sheet to the spare primary winch as crewmen Jon Hildebrand and Ian Smith scrabbled down below to effect a repair.

Sailing yacht Wild Oats IX at the RSHYR 2011 Photo D. Foster

Sailing yacht Wild Oats IX at the RSHYR 2011 Photo: D. Foster

After a short upwind to the Heads, after exit Sydney Harbour, so the yachts rounded the final turning mark and hoisted their spinnakers in a 18 knot northerly wind. The seaway immediately offshore was particularly substantial, with boats disappearing up to their first spreaders in the troughs, the sea kicked up due to the remnants of tropical cyclone Fina.

While this afternoon the fleet is enjoying a fast run south down the coast, Wild Oats XI yacht making a solid 18 knots under A2 gennaker, a typical Rolex Sydney Hobart southerly is due to kick in tonight further down the New South Wales coast as a trough moves east across the Tasman Sea.

Sailing yacht Investec Loyal chasing after the Wild Oats XI superyacht

Sailing yacht Investec Loyal chasing after the Wild Oats XI superyacht Photo: K. Arrigo

This morning Rob Webb, Regional Director of the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, admitted to competitors that tonight’s southerlies would have much more punch than forecast previously. “At this stage we are saying 20-25 knots, but on the front edge it will be pretty gusty with a 30 knots average and gusts up to 40 knots.”

Or as Mike Broughton, navigator on Chris Bull’s Jazz warned, “there were some huge hailstones, the size of tennis balls that rained down on Melbourne last night – that is coming our way. We might not get tennis balls, but we might get peas. And it is going to be bumpy, because of the East Australia Current, which is going to be taking us south at 2 knots and we also have a wave train from the tropical cyclone off Brisbane. So quite windy and with the confused seas, it is going to be a busy first night.”

However on a scale of one to ten in terms of severity, Broughton predicts the weather in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart will only score a four. “The first night will be quite busy, but after that it gets quite benign and it is going to be a real fight in the light winds to the east of Tasmania and I think that will be when the race will be won or lost.”

Super yacht Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards said that tonight’s conditions would “sort a bit of the fleet out”, but afterwards it would turn into a tactically very challenging race. “It is probably more of a traditional forecast than anything. It is still going to be very light down the south coast of Tasmania but even in 4-5 knots of breeze, big boats like ours are still doing 13-15 knots. It all depends on the wind angle, but it is looking a bit faster today which is good. With a forecast like this it would be easy to park up and Loyal and those guys could put a few miles on you, so it [line honours] is by no means a given.”

Skipper of Loki superyacht, Stephen Ainsworth, agreed that this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart was going to be a difficult race. “It is all fairly clear until you get to the south side of Bass Strait and then anything could happen. It is an easy place to get into trouble and suffer bad luck by being becalmed down the coast of Tasmania and even in the Derwent River and Storm Bay. Many a race winner has gone from being a rooster to a feather duster in a very short space of time there. So the handicap contest looks like it will be very tricky indeed.”

Loki has a new larger mainsail for this race and in addition they have a new weather specialist on board in the form of British navigator Will Best. “I think he’ll pay for himself in this race in particular,” said Ainsworth.

With Loki yacht having won the Australian IRC Championship, the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race and Audi Hamilton Island Race Week they are certainly on a roll at present. “It has been a fabulous 12-18 months and I just hope that our luck hasn’t all run out now. This is the only race that I would dearly love to win, which I haven’t yet won,” concluded Ainsworth.

A pummelling is exactly the conditions that would suit British solo round the world sailor Alex Thomson and his six-strong crew on board the two tone IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss. Thomson is fresh from having finished second in the doublehanded Transat Jacques Vabre across the North Atlantic from France to Costa Rica in Central America and this is his third Rolex Sydney Hobart.

His Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed 60 is a handful singlehanded, but fully crewed Thomson is relishing the prospect of coaxing the boat up to its maximum potential. “We are really looking forward to be able to sail it properly in this race. I think it is a good boat for this race.”

While the prospect for a park-up off the east coast of Tasmania is weighing on the minds of big boat crews, it is possible that this year’s race could favour the small boats if the weather turns favourable towards the end of the week. Certainly Andrew Saies, who won the Tattersall’s Cup for the Rolex Sydney Hobart handicap win in 2009 was liking the forecast for his Beneteau First 40, Two True, particularly tonight’s southerly. “My boat is quite competitive upwind in 15-20 knots – it really hits the straps in those conditions. Then they fade out after 24 hours and we are back into a very mixed light air pattern, potentially in different directions and that really mixes the race up and brings us back into touch with the big boats, so we really like that.”

Saies and his crew from Adelaide race Two True extensively around the east coast of Australia, however since 2009 when their yacht was the only First 40 in the race, this time there are three others to contend with, plus one Archambault 40. “I guess we have the advantage that we’ve shaken the bugs out of the boat in an ocean race.”

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