Wild Oats XI Before The Finish (Photo by Rolex/Daniel Forster)
ICAP Leopard (Photo by Rolex/Daniel Forster)
Fifth home, at 0927, was Niklas Zennstrom’s Ran from the UK, a Judel/Volijk-designed 72-footer that was overall handicap winner in the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race.
Ran has a chance of winning the race’s major trophy, the Tattersall’s Cup, for the first yacht on IRC corrected time. She has certainly beaten Alfa Romeo, which led the IRC overall standings for a time yesterday, denying Crichton the rare handicap/line honours double.
Wild Oats’ Mark Richards was gracious in defeat. “It was a tactical race and we never got a look in really,” Richards said. “They had a little edge on us on the first night and the next morning we were in a big parking lot together. They got out first and put 30 miles on us before we knew what had happened.”
Mike Slade had an historical perspective of the close three-way battle of the maxis: “When Napoleon turned up at Waterloo he knew he was in for a bad day, he had a bad day at the office didn’t he? I’ve been a bit like that. It was a fantastic race and well done Alfa, bloody marvellous.”
Slade said that Leopard had gambled by sailing farther offshore than Alfa and Oats down the east coast of Australia rather than sailing in Alfa’s wake. “We went offshore because there was no point in covering Alfa’s tracks; she had about 20 miles on us and we just got locked out. We had about four shut-downs and it was as frustrating as hell. We sat there for hours, watching them go away. That cost us. We got punished.”
Rounding Tasman Island was the worst Slade had experienced. “There was no wind and appalling seas; really nasty because it’s a lee shore, you’ve got no steerage because there’s no wind, but the seas were huge and that took us a couple of hours.
“Alfa and Oats had already gone round. The rich get rich and the poor get poorer, that’s what the game’s all about. So it was a shocker but we loved every minute of it. We will be back to do another one I think – the boat’s a glutton for punishment.”
Ran, after performing well in the fresh upwind work on the first night, parked in calms before zooming back into handicap contention with a blistering run on the new nor’-west breeze off Flinders Island.
Ran’s owner/skipper Niklas Zennstrom said: ” “The race at times was frustrating, we got parked up. Yesterday afternoon we had a fantastic run, we were reaching at up to 24 knots of boat speed, averaging 18 and 19 knots. It was excellent sailing.
“This morning was also very good; last night we had a few stops and goes. But we are happy with how the boat performed on corrected time and we will have to wait and see how the other boats are going on handicap.
“At times it looked really, really bad for us and really good for the small boats, but that’s how it is. All you can do is sail as good as you can and avoid making as many mistakes as possible. I don’t think we made too many mistakes.”
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Ran’s tactician Adrian Stead said that after riding the nor’-wester fast, Ran hit a light spot last evening, 20 miles northeast of Maria Island. “We got through that and sailed the last bit up here pretty well, very conscious that 10:20 was our deadline to beat Alfa,” he said.
With six yachts finished, and five yachts retired, there are 89 yachts still racing.
The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet has crews representing the USA, UK, New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, and New Caledonia as well as every Australian state.
Investec Loyal and Ran (Photo by Rolex/Daniel Forster)
ALFA ROMEO, Sail Number: NZL80, Skipper: Neville Crichton, State: NZ, Division: IRC, Design: Reichel Pugh , LOA (m): 30.48, Draft: 5.1 (Photo by Rolex / Daniel Forster)
Alfa, with good speed and crew work, as well as tactics, led from the start, holding off all challenges from her arch-rival Bob Oatley’s R/P 100 Wild Oats XI, a very similar design from the same builder, McConaghy Boats in Sydney, launched only a few months apart in 2005, and Mike Slade’s (UK) Farr 100, ICAP Leopard.
At 0015, ICAP Leopard was 35.6nm from the finish making 8.6 kn. There were 93 yachts still to finish from a fleet of 100 starters, with five retired.
- Wild Oats XI Passing Tasman Island (Photo by Rolex / Kurt Arrigo)
Wild Oats XI won their first line honours battle with Alfa in the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race by an hour and 16 minutes. Crichton then took Alfa Romeo to the northern hemisphere for the Mediterranean regattas in 2006 and 2007 where Alfa and Oats swapped line honours wins until Wild Oats XI broke her mast in the 2007 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo and was shipped back to Australia. This year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart was their first encounter since in a major offshore race.
Crichton’s fears of slowing in a southwest headwind in calms in the River Derwent over the last 11 nautical miles to the finish were unfounded. She stalled only once in a light patch and finally steamed home to get the finishing gun at Battery Point just after 2200, with Wild Oats XI 17nm behind (Wild Oats eventually finished just over two hours later.)
A crowd of several hundred people crowded the Constitution Wharf marina to watch the finish and cheer Alfa in to the dock. Asked, as Alfa Romeo berthed, how he was feeling, Crichton said:”It’s fantastic and the welcome here in Tasmania is unbelievable”.
He praised his crew, half of them New Zealanders and half Australian: “The 22 guys I have are the best crew in the world. The two days coming down the coast was hard work and it was good; the boys did a helluva job on the boat and it was very, very close racing.”
Was the lack of wind frustrating? “Oh no, we were very busy the whole race.”
Did he see the win as sweet revenge for the 2005 defeat by Wild Oats XI? “Every win is a good win. It has taken me four years to come back and do it, so it was even nicer. He added, “Winning the Rolex Sydney Hobart is the ultimate in ocean racing.”
- Neville Crichton receives JH Illingworth Trophy (Photo by Rolex / Kurt Arrigo)
After sailing a near perfect tactical race in extremely difficult conditions, with extremes from a testing 25-knot southerly, with a bumpy seaway through the first night, to a calm in the notoriously rough and windy Bass Strait, Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo was first to finish in the 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, with an elapsed time of two days, 9hrs, 2mins, 10secs for the 628nm course.
The Rolex Sydney-Hobart race fleet leaders stalled and stopped in calms off the far south coast of New South Wales earlier today. The smaller boats came up on a developing coastal sea breeze while the maxi leaders and 50-60-footers were stuck inshore this morning, trying to struggle around Green Cape and Gabo Island at the entrance to Bass Strait
Lion (Photo by Rolex / Kurt Arrigo)
Neville Crichton’s Reichel/Pugh 100 Alfa Romeo, which had led the race from Sydney Heads, was first of the three leading maxis to struggle into new pressure to pass Green Cape and sail to the west of the rhumb line (straight distance) course from Sydney to Tasman Island.
Alfa Romeo took off on a two-sail reach in a freshening east-northeaster and by 1800 was well into Bass Strait, 58 nautical miles south of Gabo Island with 330nm to go to the finish.
The three leading maxis were achieving extraordinary speeds in only 10-12 knots of breeze and on course for Tasman Island, the last major rounding landmark on the 628nm course.
Ichi Ban (Photo by Rolex / Daniel Forster)
Alfa Romeo, making 16.7 knots, was 16nm ahead of ICAP Leopard, the British Farr 100-footer owned by Mike Slade, with Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI, a very similar Reichel/Pugh 100, another 2nm behind Leopard and closing the distance. Wild Oats XI was making 16.7 kn to Leopard’s 16.2kn.
While these are very respectable speeds, the weather forecasting models are in agreement there will be more calms and light patches ahead. Respected yachting forecaster Roger Badham, who provides pre-race weather predictions to many top boats in the fleet, says: “The big guys will have some running in Bass Strait this afternoon, but there are still a lot of potholes between that and the finish,” Badham said. “Anyone of the three could finish first.”
One certainty is that Wild Oats XI’s race record, set at one day, 18hrs, 40mins, and 10secs in 2006, is in no danger. Given the calculations of speeds so far, Alfa would be expected to finish at 2030 Monday night, with Leopard and Wild Oats XI finishing after midnight.
But a westerly change turning moderate southwesterly is predicted for Tasmanian waters tomorrow – and that could still create those potholes of calm and light patches off the east coast under the wind shadow of Tasmanian’s high interior.
From Alfa Romeo, Murray Spence reported, as she picked up the light nor’easter, “We are now enjoying the sunshine; not the usual way to cross Bass Strait.” He said the crew was driving the boat hard today, although they were keen to get some rest after reefing most of the night had meant “intense work from all on board”.
Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards said Oats had been within three or four miles of Alfa Romeo in the morning calm before Alfa accelerated out of sight in the first of the new breeze.. He said the attitude on the boat remained very positive. “We have a fantastic bunch of guys on board here; we won’t give up ’til the death.”
Pinta M (Photo by Rolex / Daniel Foster)
Adrian Stead, tactician on the British Jude/Vrolijk 72 Ran, the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race winner, was upbeat even though the light conditions are not expected to suit this powerful boat. “We are just past Green Cape and the breeze is filling back in. We have done okay with the current but had a light morning. It’s nice to still see the maxis, but we are conscious of boats behind using the sea breeze this afternoon.”
The concertina effect completely scrambled the IRC corrected time calculations. The new IRC overall leader is reckoned to be Noel Cornish’s Sydney 47 Jude, crewed by a group of friends from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.
The Sydney 38, Mondo, retired today with rigging problems and was heading to Eden, bringing the number of retired yachts to five, with 95 yachts still racing. The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet has crews representing the USA, UK, New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, and New Caledonia as well as every Australian state.
Ran (Photo by Rolex / Daniel Forster)
Alfa Romeo (Photo by Rolex/Daniel Forster)
Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo remained in control of her nearest maxi opponents through a changing wind pattern overnight and into the second day of the 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.Alfa’s afterguard, including tactician Michael Coxon and navigator Tom Addis, kept the yacht perfectly positioned at the head of the fleet to be first into the anticipated shift in wind direction from south-southwest experienced from the start to southeast off the south coast of New South Wales.
Alfa Romeo tacked on the shift at about 2145 last night to converge back towards the coast on port after the long gaining starboard tack the fleet followed after clearing Sydney Harbour from the 1300 start.
At 0800, 19 hours into the race, the Reichel/Pugh 100 was 24 nautical miles northeast of Green Cape, 2 miles ahead of Mike Slade’s Farr 100 ICAP Leopard, which was three or four miles to seaward, with another 2nm to Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI, a near sister design R/P 100 to Alfa Romeo. Alfa had covered 193nm of the 628nm course and was doing 10.8 knots.
All three were close to the shortest-distance rhumb line between Sydney and Tasman Island and on course for the island, but were starting to slow as the wind dropped from its 25 knot peak of last evening to 10-12 knots and less this morning.
Loyal and Ran (Photo by Rolex/Daniel Forster)
Critical for all boats will be traversing the light airs and calms expected today in the Bass Strait, between the Australian mainland and Tasmania, before a forecast 20-30 knot westerly change tonight.
Wild Oats XI navigator Ian Burns said this morning: “The wind is pretty light now, between 6-10 knots and quite variable. The seas are flatter – it was a little rough at times last night.
“We’ve had quite a few wind shifts and some big lulls. At one stage the guys behind us [Ran and Lahana] ran almost up to us. We exchanged some tacks as the southeast-southwester fought it out but it has been hanging in the southeast for some time now.
“Some forecasts are calling for no wind at all across half of Bass Strait. The fact that we will head butt into the light stuff gives us a bit of a chance. Leopard is doing a great job for a big boat in the lighter wind, but the race hasn’t really started yet; that will be today.”
The overall handicap leader on IRC corrected time is Michael Hiatt’s Farr 55 Living Doll over the UK-based Judel/Vrolijk 72 Ran (Niklas Zennstrom), followed by the Jones-modified Volvo 70 Ichi Ban (Matt Allen).
Limit (Photo by Rolex/Daniel Forster)
One of the handicap favourites, Alan Brierty’s Reichel/Pugh 62 Limit, was among the retirements overnight due to problems with the halyard locks.
That brings the number of retired yachts to four in the 100-boat fleet that started yesterday from Sydney. The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet has crews representing the USA, UK, New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, and New Caledonia as well as every Australian state.
LIST OF ENTRIES
41 SUD FRA 8995 New Caledonia Archambault 40
Adventure of Hornet GBR7802T UK Challenge
AFR Midnight Rambler 8338 NSW Farr 40
Alfa Romeo NZL80 NZ Maxi
Another Fiasco Q999 QLD Jutson 43
Archie A35 TAS Archambault 35
Auch A44 TAS Beneteau First 44.7
Audi Centre Melbourne SM 2008 VIC Corby 49
Aurora N3 NSW Farr 40 – One Off
Bacardi SM377 VIC Peterson 44
Balance 7771 NSW Beneteau 45
Bear Necessity MH115 NSW C & C 115
Bet NSW Sydney 38
Birdsoffboats.com.au 2999 NSW Sydney 38 Mod
Calm SM5252 VIC TP52
Challenger of Hornet GBR7803T UK Challenge
Chancellor 7407 NSW Beneteau First 40.7
Charisma ESP7100 Spain S & S 57
Charlie’s Dream RQ1920 QLD Bluewater 450
CHorse 8350 NSW Cavalier 350 SL
Chutzpah R33 VIC IRC 40
Colortile 67 NSW Sayer 45
Concordia G121 VIC Nautor Swan 53
Copernicus 6689 NSW Radford 12
Cougar II SM 5200 VIC TP 52
Dekadence SM46 TAS DK46
Discoverer of Hornet GBR7804T UK Challenge
Eleni MH60 NSW Sydney 38
Evolution Racing NSW Cookson 50
EZ Street 6814 NSW Warwick 44
Flying Fish 7551 NSW Radford 16.4
Geomatic Joker M9000 VIC Jarken 38
Goldfinger 8880 VIC Farr 52
Helsal III 262 TAS Adams 20
Holy Cow! 6797 NSW Beneteau Oceanis 50
ICAP Leopard GBR1R UK Maxi
Ichi Ban AUS 03 NSW Jones 70
Imagination 35 NSW First 47.7
Investec LOYAL NZL99999 TAS Maxi
Kioni 6146 NSW Beneteau First 47.7
Knee Deep HY161 WA Farr 49
Krakatoa II 55555 NSW Pogo 40
Lahana 10081 NSW 30m Maxi
Limit AUS 98888 WA Reichel Pugh 62
Lion New Zealand NZL 3900 NZ Whitbred Maxi
Livewire.org.au 6773 NSW Oceanis 37
Living Doll R55 VIC Farr 55
Loki AUS60000 NSW Reichel Pugh 63
Love & War 294 NSW S & S 47
Mahligai BRU1 NZ Sydney 46
Matangi 5350 TAS Frers 39
Menace M24 NSW Phillips/Simpson 11.7
Merit 8679 QLD Volvo 60
Mondo 6305 QLD Sydney 38
More Witchcraft 8402 NSW Dibley 46
Namadgi 6388 ACT Bavaria 44
Next 6081 NSW Sydney 38
Ninety Seven B 9797 VIC Farr 47
Nips N Tux 5995 NSW IMX 40
One For The Road N9 NSW Northshore 37
Paca 6812 NSW Beneteau First 40
Papillon N 40 NSW Archambault 40
Patrice Six 360 NSW X41
Pelagic Magic 11407 NSW Beneteau 40.7
Pinta – M NED 1261 Netherlands S & S 41
Pippin 533 QLD Farr 37
Polaris of Belmont 5527 NSW Cole 43
Pretty Fly III 10007 NSW Cookson 50
Quest 52002 NSW TP 52
Quetzalcoatl 2001 NSW Jones 40
Ragamuffin AUS 70 NSW TP52
Ran GBR7236R UK JV 72
Rapture MAR1005 USA SW 100
Ray White Castle Hill Tartan 3846 NSW Northshore 38
Ray White Spirit of Koomooloo 2170 QLD S&S 49
Rush B45 VIC Corel 45
Sailing Services ANSON 8848 NSW Modified 66
Sailors With Disabilities 7878 NSW Lyons 54
Salona 3274 NSW Salona 37
Seahold Perie Banou II R4 WA S & S 39
Secret Mens Business 3.5 YC3300 SA Reichel Pugh 51
SES Inch by Winch 393 NSW Peterson 44
Shamrock M330 VIC Reichel Pugh 47
She 4924 NSW Olsen 40
She’s The Culprit 370 TAS Jones 39
Shining Sea 6338 SA Sydney 38
Shogun 6952 VIC JV52
Shortwave 52052 NSW IRC52
St Jude 6686 NSW Sydney 47
Strewth 6188 NSW MKL 49
Suesea F310 WA Marten 49
Swish 6073 NSW Sydney 38
The Subzero Goat 7027 NSW Sydney 38
Tokolosh AUS11111 NSW Maxi
Tow Truck M6 NSW Ker 11.3
Two True YC400 SA First 40
Valheru 1195 TAS Elliott 43
Wasabi AUS 88 NSW Sayer 12 MOD
Wicked SM4 VIC First 40
Wild Oats XI 10001 NSW RP100
Wild Thing M10 VIC IRC Maxi 98
Yendys 1836 NSW Reichel Pugh 55
Zephyr Hamilton Elevators 8289 NSW Farr 1020
Zora I 8975 NSW Salona 45
Wild Oats XI , ICAP Leopard and Alfa Romeo (Photo by Rolex/Kurt Arrigo)
Investec Loyal (Photo by Rolex/Daniel Forster)
The world’s biggest and best assembly of maxi yachts in recent times will contest this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Seven of them will be on the start line, and five have a real chance of leading the fleet of 100 entries into Hobart in the 65th running of the Australian 628-nautical mile ocean-racing classic, which starts on Boxing Day, December 26.
Race record-holder Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI, chasing her fifth consecutive line honours win, faces strongest competition from Neville Crichton’s near sister Reichel/Pugh designed Alfa Romeo, and Mike Slade’s Rolex Fastnet Race record holder ICAP Leopard, a Farr design from the UK.
The Greg Elliott-designed Investec Loyal (Sean Langman) and Etihad Stadium (Grant Wharington), the Don Jones design that formerly raced as Skandia Wild Thing, also have line honours ambitions, although Etihad Stadium’s chances of making the start hang in the balance. On the delivery trip from Melbourne to Sydney last week, Etihad Stadium’s mast broke and “never-say-die” Wharington is desperately trying to have a replacement – Alfa Romeo’s, spare mast – air freighted from France in time for the race start.
All these maxis are canting-keel powered. Leopard, Wild Oats XI, Alfa Romeo and Loyal have been lengthened from 98ft overall to 100ft, to the new maximum length allowed for the Rolex Fastnet and Rolex Sydney Hobart Races.
The competition between these five boats should help to push one of them, given favourable downwind running conditions, to break the race record which stands at 1 day, 18 hours, 40 minutes, 10 seconds, set by Wild Oats XI in 2005.
The contest for the race’s major trophy, the Tattersalls’ Cup for the overall winner on IRC handicap, is wide open and weather-dependent, headed in favouritism by a strong group of TP 52s including last year’s winner Quest (Bob Steel), two re-vamped Reichel/Pugh 62-63 foot near-sister designs, Alan Brierty’s Limit, with Gavin Brady onboard, and Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki, upgraded for their second season. Then there is Ran (Niklas Zennstrom), a Judel/Vrolijk 72 from the UK, untested in the southern hemisphere, but with a formidable track record including winning the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race overall and Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in the Mini Maxi division. Onboard will be America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veterans, tactician Adrian Stead, Steve Hayles, Tim Powell, Andy Hemmings, and Richard Bouzaid. Michael Hiatt’s Living Doll, a one-year old Farr 55, is another hot overall handicap prospect. So is Geoff Ross’ Reichel/Pugh 55 Yendys, which has a new keel that is half a metre deeper and 420kg, and will have Volvo racer and 49er Olympian Chris Nicholson as sailing master and principal helmsman.
The fleet – the second strongest in a decade – includes 12 overseas yachts. Among them is another maxi the 100ft Rapture, a Farr-designed performance cruiser owned by American Brook Lenfest. The Sparkman & Stephens 41 Pinta-M, (Atse Blei) from the Netherlands remained in Australia since the 2008 race (where she finished third in IRC division 4), and will have another crack at the Tattersalls’ Cup.
The head of the fleet duel between Wild Oats XI and Alfa Romeo has been ongoing and close for four years. At their first meeting, Wild Oats XI beat Alfa Romeo by an hour and 16 minutes in her 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours win. Their duel continued in the Mediterranean in 2006 where Alfa Romeo won the 2006 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, with Wild Oats third.
In the 2007 Med season, the two yachts swapped line honours dominance at the Giraglia Rolex Cup and Superyacht Cup at Palma. Then Alfa Romeo took line honours from Oats by 38sec in the first race of the 2007 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup; but, two minutes after the start of race two, Oats’ mast fell down, taking the boat out of the regatta.
While Wild Oats XI returned to Australia, Alfa Romeo stayed on in the Med for the 2008 season. This year, Sydney-based New Zealander Neville Crichton brought Alfa Romeo back to Australia, on the way taking line honours in the 2,225 nm Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, with a time of 5 days, 14hrs, 36mins that broke the race record by more than a day.
Prior to the Transpac, Alfa Romeo put in a new, lighter mast and rigging from Southern Spars, that offers less windage, but otherwise there have been no major changes to the boat. Said Crichton, “There have been little changes that add up to seconds a mile. We tried to pull weight out wherever possible and we have some new sails.”
Crichton sees Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats XI as the most reliable boats of the five line honours favourites. “In a heavy southerly, Leopard would have the advantage. Heavy air running would suit Etihad Stadium; Wild Oats XI and ourselves are more all-rounders.”
Despite being lengthened to 100ft, Wild Oats XI will sail with fewer crew, 18 instead of last year’s 24 which, notes skipper and helmsman Mark Richards, will represent a weight saving of over one ton in crew baggage and body weight. While numbers are reduced, they still sport an all-star lineup with the likes of Volvo winner and ISAF Rolex World Sailor Mike Sanderson, Robbie Naismith, Ian Murray, Adrienne Cahalan, and Ian Burns onboard.
Wild Oats XI and Alfa Romeo were matched equally in speed in the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge; around the 14nm course in Sydney Harbour on Tuesday, the pair were seldom more than two boat lengths apart at each mark rounding in a fair 15-18 knot nor’easter. Alfa Romeo gained the winning lead only when Oats’ wine-glassed her spinnaker when hoisting at the last mark.
“There is nothing between the two boats in speed,” said Wild Oats XI Richards. “In the Hobart it could come down to sail selection and sail changes.”
At the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race, ICAP Leopard, a powerful Farr design, built by McConaghy in Sydney, in her first major long-distance race, smashed the record by 8 hrs, 50min, while Alfa Romeo was among the retirements in that edition’s rough seas and 40 knot winds.
ICAP Leopard finished 27 minutes behind Wild Oats XI in the 2007 Rolex Sydney Hobart after applying pressure all the way, and won line honours again this year in both the Rolex Fastnet and the Rolex Middle Sea Races.
In 2007, she was lengthened to 100ft and fitted with twin rudders – and for Hobart the boat has a new sail wardrobe. “Ninety per cent of the sails we will be using in this race are brand-new,” says boat captain Chris Sherlock.
The crew includes strong afterguard professionals from Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup teams: navigator Jules Salter, watch captains Brad Jackson and Rob Greenhalgh, and tactician Ray Davies. All were aboard for this year’s Rolex Fastnet and Rolex Middle Sea Races.
A fleet of 100 yachts will compete in this year’s race, which starts at 1300 AEDT, 26 December 2009. The Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet will have crews representing the USA, UK, New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, and New Caledonia as well as every Australian state.
