The 38th Annual Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race official results are in!  A determined Osita crossed the finish line at 7:15 am. The race started in 10+ knots of SE breeze, then lightened up and got shifty.  Finally, for the second half of the fleet, a cold front rolled through with 30+ knot out of the N seen by several of the competitors.  Thirty two boats started the race, while twenty six sailed to the finish. Bella Mente, Hap Fauth’s Mini Maxi was first across the line for an IRC class win and sailed only 160.9nm on a 160nm course, which earned them the “Best Overall Performance” Award as well. See all the final race results here.

SPOT tracking is officially part of all SORC events. It allows the friends and family to keep track of the race with real time position updates. Click here to watch the tracking replay from the start of this race.

There is one more SORC event this season: the 2013 Pineapple Cup Montego Bay Race starting February 8, 2013.

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The SORC is a Florida non-profit organization driven by a select group of volunteers that bring professional event management, sailing , racing and other skills to the organization. The SORC mission is to lead the expansion of offshore competitive sailing in South Florida by providing the highest level of race organization, management and promotions for those that enjoy the sport of ocean sailing. Learn more at www.sorcsailing.org.

Place, Yacht Name, Yacht Type, Owner/Skipper, City, State, Country, Results, Total Points

Ft. Lauderdale-Key West – IRC Course

IRC (IRC – 8 Boats)
1. Bella Mente, Judel-Vrolijk Mini Maxi, Hap Fauth , Minneapolis, MN, USA, 1; 1
2. SPOOKIE, Carkeek HP 40, Steve & Heidi Benjamin , Norwalk, CT, USA, 2; 2
3. Decision, HPR Carkeek 40, Stephen Murray , New Orleans, LA, USA, 3; 3
4. Rebecca, J 120, Glenn Gault , League City, TX, USA, 4; 4
5. Thin Ice, Aerodyne 38, Stuart Hebb / John Vincent , Coral Gables, FL, USA, 5; 5
6. Arethusa, Swan 42, Phil Lotz , Newport, RI, USA, 6; 6
7. Rim Shot, Beneteau First 36.7, Russell Dunn , Hollywood, FL, USA, 7; 7
8. Dragon, Class 40, Michael Hennessy , New York, NY, USA, 8; 8

Ft. Lauderdale-Key West – PHRF Course

PHRF A (PHRF – 7 Boats)
1. Different Drummer, Cape Bay Fast 40, Frank Atkinson , West Palm Beach, FL, USA, 1; 1
2. Teamwork, J 122, Robin Team , Lexington, NC, USA, 2; 2
3. Loki, J 105, David Bond , Miami, FL, USA, 3; 3
4. Main Squeeze, Tripp 33, Eamonn deLisser / James Bill , Coral Gables, FL, USA, 4; 4
5. Constellation, Nautor Swan 48-1, Greg Petrat , Sarasota, FL, USA, 5; 5
6. Batucada, Schock 35, Cornelius Sanders , Miami, FL, USA, 6; 6
7. Ace, Cutter 65, Frank Pingitore , Miami , FL, USA, 8/DNF; 8

PHRF B (PHRF – 6 Boats)
1. Mirage, Hobie 33, Christian Schaumloffel , Virginia Beach, VA, USA, 1; 1
2. Bandana, Oyster 48, David Wallace , Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA, 2; 2
3. Commotion, Beneteau 461, Ross Hunton , Coral Springs, FL, USA, 3; 3
4. Walloon, C&C 35 Mark I, Com. Richard D. Grow , Palm Beach , FL, USA, 7/DNF; 7
5. Sempre Amantes, Hunter Pasage 42, Colin Whittaker , Margate, FL, USA, 7/DNF; 7
6. Soap Opera, Hobie 33, Scott Self , Rockwall, TX, USA, 7/DNS; 7

PHRF C (PHRF – 7 Boats)
1. Sunquest, Sloop, Wilfredo Paredes , Miami, FL, USA, 1; 1
2. Susimi, Sweden 370, Michael Carrington , Lighthouse Point, FL, USA, 2; 2
3. Grand Cru, Beneteau 393, Danny Escobar , Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA, 3; 3
4. Vendaval, Dufour 34, Oscar Valdes , Miami Lakes, FL, USA, 4; 4
5. Osita, Tartan 40, Becky Lyons , Miami, FL, USA, 5; 5
6. Passion, Catalina 34, Brett Grover , Jesup, GA, USA, 8/DNS; 8
7. Kokomo, Swan 36, Brad Lonstein , Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA, 8/DNS; 8

Ft. Lauderdale-Key West – PHRF Multihull Course

Multihull A (PHRF – 7 Boats)
1. Elvis, Gunboat, Jason Carroll , New York, NY, USA, 1; 1
2. Sundog, Seacart 30, Paul Parks , Shady Side, MD, USA, 2; 2
3. Flight Simulator, Corsair 28R, Tom Reese , Youngstown, NY, USA, 3; 3
4. Tri-Vector, Dragonfly 35, David Otto , Miami Beach, FL, USA, 4; 4
5. Double Trouble, Catana 58, Don Balthaser , Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA, 8/DNF; 8
6. Brake Aweigh, Trimaran, Richard VandeBrake , Lowell, MI, USA, 8/DNF; 8
7. CatNip, Catamaran 35, Victor Mendelsohn , Miami, FL, USA, 8/DNF; 8

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DOUBLE TRIPLE WITH ICING ON THE TOP

Robert Oatley’s Wild Oats XI was announced this morning as the Overall Winner of the 68th Rolex Sydney Hobart. It had become clear overnight that none of the yachts still at sea could better the corrected time established by the 30.48m (100 foot) maxi skippered by Mark Richards. Wild Oats XI has repeated its historic performance of 2005, when it secured the treble of Line Honours, Overall Winner and Race Record.   Aside from Rani, in the very first race, Wild Oats XI is the only yacht ever to have achieved this impressive display of dominance. She has now done it twice. Bob Oatley was understandably impressed: “The main aim was the fastest time. To get the handicap too was fantastic, a real bonus. Getting the record trip was really the icing on the cake.” By 15:00 AEDT on 29 December, 13 yachts had finished the 2012 Rolex Sydney Hobart including two of the international entries: KLC Bengal from Japan and Ambersail from Lithuania. Last year’s winner, Loki, has so far come closest to unseating Wild Oats XI. Finishing last night at just before 21:00 even she was two hours adrift on corrected time. Black Jack, which arrived an hour before Loki, lies in third overall. Chris Bull’s Jazz holds fourth. Victorian yacht Calm had appeared to have the best opportunity of the yachts destined to arrive before dawn today. Needing to finish before 01:31, she was behind schedule yesterday afternoon. Owner Jason Van der Slot believed they would pick up pace but had not counted on stalling close to the finish: “We parked for two hours off Tasman Island and for an hour in the Derwent. We were aiming to finish in time to win and up to Tasman Island we were on track. It had all gone according to plan until then.” She eventually finished at 06:06 this morning and holds fifth place. Five yachts have retired so far and, for the 58 yachts still racing, a difficult evening lies ahead. In the lee of northeastern Tasmania there is a substantial wind shadow. From midway down the eastern seaboard to Tasman Island spindrift is flying off 3 metre waves in a 26 – 36 knot west-southwesterly. These conditions are forecast to prevail through much of 30 December too.

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On the morning of 28 December 2012, Wild Oats XI once again stamped her name in the Rolex Sydney Hobart history books. From the moment the start gun fired on Boxing Day the silver wraith seemed intent on condemning her rivals for line honours to the position of also-rans. Wild Oats XI’s finish time of 1 day 18 hours 23 minutes and 12 seconds sliced 16 minutes 58 seconds off her own record. Another commanding performance in a race she has begun to treat as her own.   Without doubt skipper Mark Richard’s crew of thoroughbred racers had some luck, but their race was not without problems. The first night saw the wind drop in the scheduled transition and her opponents close down the lead she had worked to establish during the afternoon. The crew held their nerve and once the northeasterly settled in they were off. Ragamuffin-Loyal’s endeavours to stay in touch with Wild Oats XI were hampered by a headsail gear failure from which the 100-foot maxi never recovered; Syd Fischer’s equally accomplished crew forced to accept the unwelcome role of bridesmaid. Ragamuffin-Loyal finished almost five hours behind Wild Oats XI. Had the apparent error of starting the race too early been converted to a penalty, her crew’s sense of disappointment would have been complete. Fortunately, the International Jury found that race officials failed to notify Ragamuffin-Loyal after five minutes that they had jumped the start, leaving the crew unaware that they should have returned and restarted. By 20:30 AEDT only four yachts had completed the 628 nm course. Lahana rounded out the maxi contingent just before 19:00, while Black Jack was the first mini maxi some 40 minutes later. Loki and Ichi Ban will be next home. None have so far been capable of posting a time that knocks Wild Oats XI off the overall podium position. The door may be open for a smaller yacht if the weather obliges. Calm, Jazz, Quest and Shogun look best placed to foil a second triple crown. They need the wind to shift substantially in their favour, something it has singularly failed to do so far. Wild Oats XI near finish (Photo by Rolex / Daniel Forster)

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The 68th Rolex Sydney Hobart got underway in exceptional conditions. The forecast southerly breeze providing the perfect angle for a spinnaker start and run down the harbour. The angle would prove less kind as the yachts exited the Sydney Heads and made their turn towards Hobart, finding the 20 – 25 knots now firmly on the nose. Mark Richards and Wild Oats XI looked to be in no mood to be interrupted in her bid to claim a sixth line honours, blasting off the line and showing Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin Loyal a clean pair of heels before popping out of the Heads comfortably in the lead.

 
 
An interesting night lies ahead. The decision how far to head out to sea was the first conundrum facing the crews. So far the bulk of yachts appear firm in the belief that staying inshore, and inside the rhumb line will pay better. Only, one or two boats have shown a determination to head offshore for any length of time. Mike Broughton, navigator on Chris Bull’s Jazz, felt ahead of the start that the fleet would do well to stay inshore for the initial section of the race, certainly until the major swing in wind direction expected during the night. This transition should see the wind back to the northeast and will have the yachts running under spinnaker for an extended period.

 
Start of the 2012 Rolex Sydney Hobart
Earlier this morning, Gordon Maguire, tactician on Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki, indicated some of their pre-race routing suggested the bigger yachts could profit enormously from the predicted northeasterly. If it arrives on cue, they could bite a huge chunk out of the course during the hours of darkness and be lying off Green Cape by mid-morning on the second day, 27 December. The small boats, meanwhile, such as race veteran Roger Hickman’s Wild Rose, might only find themselves parallel with Jervis Bay as dawn breaks. The difference in power between segments of the fleet will be all too apparent at this juncture.

 

WILD OATS XI, after the start
At 17:30 AEDT Wild Oats XI was 8 nautical miles north east of Kiama travelling at 12 knots, with some 50 nm under her belt after 4.5 hours of sailing. Any thought of setting a new record seemed to be on hold as navigator Adrienne Cahalan called in to report the wind speed dropping as evening arrives. Ragamuffin Loyal lies within striking distance just astern. Lahana, Ichi Ban and Black Jack round out the top five on the water. Conditions have been wet and hard on crews during these first few hours and the measure of performance differential between front-runners and back markers is clearly demonstrated by Charlie’s Dream. Averaging just 3.4 knots, Peter Lewis and crew were parallel with Botany Bay having knocked a mere 13 nm off the 628nm course distance.

The start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart is like few other yacht races. The natural amphitheatre formed by the deep-water harbour offers great viewing potential from the water, at water level from the beaches and coves, and grandstand opportunities from higher ground. Every Sydney-sider has a favourite location, and South Head must be one of the most popular and dramatic. A huge crowd always assembles to watch the fleet barrel down the harbour and make the sharp out into open water. This year’s spectacle was worth the effort involved. After a dreadful Christmas Day, when rain and wind battered Sydney, Boxing Day has been a joy. Blue sky and reasonably warm temperatures brought the locals out in their thousands to cheer the determined and enthusiastic crews off on their compelling adventure.

 

Entries

Abracadabra	5612	New South Wales	Tripp 47
AFR Midnight Rambler	8338	New South Wales	Ker 40
Akatea	NZL8710	New Zealand	Cookson 50
Ambersail	LTU1000	Lithuania	Volvo 60
Ariel	A140	New South Wales	Beneteau First 40
Asylum	YC10	South Australia	Sydney 38
Aurora	N3	New South Wales	Farr 40 – One Off
Black Jack	52566	Queensland	Reichel Pugh 66
Blunderbuss	RQ4000	Queensland	Beneteau First 40
Brannew	9988	New South Wales	Beneteau First 40 Cr
Breakthrough	6834	New South Wales	Beneteau First 40
Brindabella	10000	New South Wales	Jutson 79
Calm	SM5252	Victoria	TP52
Carbon Credits	6669	Queensland	Beneteau First 45
Celestial-Assistance Dogs	421	New South Wales	Rogers 46
Charlie’s Dream	RQ1920	Queensland	Bluewater 450
Chutzpah	R33	Victoria	IRC 40
CIC Technology Inca	F111	Aust Capital Territory	Vickers 41
Copernicus	6689	New South Wales	Radford 12
Corporate Initiatives	7407	New South Wales	Beneteau First 40.7
Cougar II	5200	Tasmania	TP52
Dekadence	S20	Victoria	DK46
Duende	ESP6100	New South Wales	JV52
Dump Truck	A6	Tasmania	Ker 11.3
Enchantress	SA346	South Australia	Muirhead 11
Eressea	6590	Queensland	Hanse 415
Finistere	F108	Western Australia	Davidson 50
Flying Fish Arctos	7551	New South Wales	McIntyre 55
Frantic	GBR5211	New South Wales	TP52
Geomatic	M495	Victoria	Hanse 495
Halcyon	R75	Victoria	Beneteau First 40
Helsal III	262	Tasmania	Adams 20
Holdens Secret Mens Business	YC3300	South Australia	Reichel Pugh 51
Icefire	R6572	New South Wales	Mummery 45
Ichi Ban	AUS 03	New South Wales	Jones 70
Illusion	5356	New South Wales	Davidson 34
INSX	SM5985	Victoria	NSX 38
Jazz Player	S390	Victoria	Bakewell – White 39
Jazz	5299	New South Wales	Cookson 50
Kioni	6146	New South Wales	Beneteau First 47.7
KLC Bengal 7	JPN4321	Japan	Humphreys 54
Lahana	10081	New South Wales	30m Maxi
Living Doll	R55	Victoria	Farr 55
Local Hero	1236	New South Wales	BH 36
Loki	AUS 60000	New South Wales	Reichel Pugh 63
Love & War	294	New South Wales	S & S 47
Luna Sea	8339	New South Wales	Hick 35
Lunchtime Legend	RQ14	Queensland	Beneteau First 40
Maluka of Kermandie	A19	Tasmania	Ranger
Martela	7075	Tasmania	IMX 38
Merit	8679	Queensland	Volvo 60
Occasional Coarse Language Too	8008	New South Wales	Sydney GTS 43
Ocean Affinity	RQ64	Queensland	Marten 49
Papillon	6841	New South Wales	Archambault 40RC
Patrice Six	360	New South Wales	X41
Peugeot Surfrider	7771	New South Wales	Beneteau 45
Primitive Cool	S777	Victoria	Farr 40 Mod
Quest	52002	New South Wales	TP 52
Ragamuffin Loyal	SYD100	New South Wales	Elliott 100
Rikki	NZL8008	New Zealand	Reichel Pugh 42
Rush	B45	Victoria	Corel 45
Sailors with disAbilities	6953	New South Wales	Nelson Marek 52
She	4924	New South Wales	Olsen 40
Shogun	6952	Victoria	JV 52
Southern Excellence	NOR2	New South Wales	Volvo 60
St Jude	6686	New South Wales	Sydney 47
This Way Up	RF360	Western Australia	Sydney 36CR
Toybox 2	MH4	New South Wales	XP 44
TSA Management	MH60	New South Wales	Sydney 38
Tusitala	SAM1	Samoa	Goss 60
Two True	YC400	South Australia	Beneteau First 40
Veloce	SM602	Victoria	Elliott 44CR
Wicked	SM4	Victoria	Beneteau First 40
Wild Oats XI	10001	New South Wales	RP100
Wild Rose	4343	New South Wales	Farr 43
Zen	3838	New South Wales	Sydney 38

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

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 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.

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 ,was 11 miles ahead of Anthony Bell’s maxi 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.

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.”

The theoretically faster 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.

 “It was one of the great experiences in my life,” said Anthony Bell, 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 boats 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 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.”

 

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With the wind fading for the smaller boats, so this morning (local time) Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki was announced the handicap winner of the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

At a presentation on board their white four year old Reichel Pugh 63 footer, Ainsworth and his crew were presented with a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece by Patrick Boutellier of Rolex Australia and the much coveted Tattersall’s Cup, for winning IRC handicap honours, by Garry Linacre, Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, and Graham Taplin, Commodore of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.

“We are elated, it is a fantastic feeling, a huge thrill to win this race,” said a jubilant Ainsworth. “Having done 14 races, I know how hard it is to win this race. I have been trying for a long time. 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.”

The present Loki was launched three years ago after Ainsworth’s previous boat was lost after she was abandoned in severe conditions when her rudder broke during the 2007 Rolex Middle Sea. The new boat was built for offshore racing and specifically to win the Rolex Sydney Hobart. This was Ainsworth and his crew’s fourth attempt in the latest Loki.

Ainsworth and Loki are one of the most successful teams racing in Australia at present. Last year they won the Australian IRC Championship, the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race and this year Audi Hamilton Island Race Week. Personally, this month Ainsworth was voted the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s joint Ocean Racer of the Year.

Typically they sail offshore with 18 crew and of these only one third are professional, led by Irish Volvo Ocean Race veteran, Gordon Maguire. On board typically Maguire helms while Ainsworth trims the main sheet. The other pros on board for the Rolex Sydney Hobart included other much capped round the world race sailors Anthony Merrington, Jeff Scott and sailmaker Alby Pratt, while a regular with Ainsworth is his long term navigator Michael Bellingham.

However, Maguire points out that many of their ‘amateur’ crew are among the most talented sailors in Australia. “We have really good sailors from all walks of life. It is more rewarding when you line up against fully pro crews.”

For the Rolex Sydney Hobart this year, Loki was fitted with a new, bigger mainsail and for the first time they had an on board weather expert to assist Bellingham in the form of British navigator Will Best.

According to Maguire, during the race they were always in contention, but down the east coast of Tasmania the 100ft maxis had stretched away. “They were getting out to 120 miles in front of us and at that distance it was hard to stay in touch on handicap. But they parked up at Tasman Island and that brought us right back into them. We took 60 miles out of them that morning. So the handicap win came when the big boats parked up. We were always very confident that we had time on the boats behind us, particularly with how the weather patterns were going to shape up from halfway down the east coast to the finish.”

Ainsworth said Loki would return to the Rolex Sydney Hobart next year to defend her title.

Slow boats up the Derwent

Meanwhile for today’s finishers the pace had distinctly slowed. Over 11 and a half hours, last night and into this morning, just one boat arrived as the water turned to glass on Storm Bay and the Derwent River leading up to Hobart.

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

Ed Psaltis, co-owner of AFR Midnight Rambler arrived in Hobart suffering from an infected arm and unhappy with their performance. “It was very disappointing, our race. We made a few wrong choices. Entering Bass Strait we were in good shape against all the opposition and doing well overall, but we found a hole [in the wind] bigger that anyone else did and we sat there for six hours going nowhere. We also had northerly, adverse current in Bass Strait so we did very well going the wrong way.”

Between two scheds AFR Midnight Rambler lost 25 miles, but once the wind turned favourable and they could set the kite on their new Ker 40, they managed to make up the deficit. Then they too had a slow finish. “It was probably the slowest passage I’ve had from Tasman Light to the finish – and this is a pretty quick boat. But that’s how it is,” said Psaltis. “Next year it will be a lot better than it was this year.”

Australia’s solo sailing star arrives

This afternoon the marina of Constitution Dock was packed five deep with spectators waiting patiently for the arrival of 18 year-old Australian solo sailor Jessica Watson. Since 2010 when she became the youngest person ever to have completed a singlehanded voyage non-stop around the world, Watson has become a media sensation in Australia.

In this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Watson achieved her ambition to lead the youngest crew ever to compete in the race. She and her seven crew – among them fellow youth solo round the world sailor, Britain’s Mike Perham – raced in the Sydney 38 class aboard the pink hulled Ella Baché Another Challenge.

“It was really, really good, everything you would expect,” said Watson upon 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 on her own, 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.”

Her round the world voyage also didn’t involve competition, something which she seems to have relished in this Rolex Sydney Hobart. “The last leg in was amazing, some really close racing with the Sydney 38 fleet, changing positions all the time. Then to come in second was just awesome. It was as good as anyone could hope for. We had a really close battle with The Goat.” She added: “The race wouldn’t have been the same if we didn’t have that close boat-on-boat racing.” Watson was especially pleased to have beaten their coaches, sailing on Deloitte As One.

Since lunch time, boats have been flooding into Hobart, with 26 arriving between 13:23 (local time) and the latest arrival at 17:24 of Tony Warren’s Kiss Goodbye to MS, the 49th finisher. 28 boats remain still racing with John Bankart’s Eressea, bringing up the rear, some 137 miles from the finish.

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The serious countdown to the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has officially begun, with the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge taking place on Sydney Harbour today.
The SOLAS Big Boat Challenge is traditionally one of the busier days on the Harbour for spectator vessels. This year the 15 or so entrants, ranging in size from 100 foot super maxis to 50 foot grand prix racers can expect less traffic around them, but a ton of on board action.
“It’ll be an exciting race,” said Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards yesterday as he and Wild Oats XI’s race crew were preparing to don wet weather gear and complete a practice run around the 14 nautical mile SOLAS Big Boat Challenge track, which today takes them two and a half times around Sydney Harbour to the finish off the Opera House.
For the sailing novices on Anthony Bell’s 100 foot INVESTEC LOYAL, today’s challenge will provide some insight into what might be around the corner come Boxing Day. Olympic wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley, Roosters five-eighth Anthony Minichiello and Channel 9’s Karl Stefanovic will taste plenty of salt water and better understand the rigours of ocean racing when they join rugby legends and past participants, Phil Waugh and Phil Kearns, and the rest of the professional race crew for today’s SOLAS Big Boat Challenge. Former racing great and record breaking winner Neville Crichton will also join Anthony Bell’s loyal for SOLAS big boat race.
Peter Millard, co-owner of the 98 foot Lahana arrived back on a flight from the US yesterday and when told of today’s forecast, said, “Then we definitely need to go out training today.”
Two of Lahana’s 21-strong crew have flown in from Europe and a handful more have arrived from interstate to take part in the annual Harbour spectacle, with the largest yachts in town preparing for the 12.30pm start off Steele Point, Vaucluse.
“It’ll be good to have testing conditions today, but we won’t be taking any risks that might put a speed bump in our Rolex Sydney Hobart preparations,” said Millard. “We want to see a lot of pressure today and for the great race. We’re hoping for a southerly all the way to Hobart.”
Making her Australian debut in the race will be Victorian Rob Hanna’s recent acquisition, theTP52 Shogun. Hanna purchased the near-new former Audi Azzurra from Europe, where it has been successfully competing on the MedCup circuit. Hanna’s main intention is to beat the other Australian ownedTP52’s at major events, including Marcus Blackmore’s Hooligan, which is also contesting the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge.

 

List of Entries

10000	BRINDABELLA	Jim	Cooney	Jutson 80		1.4100
ESP6100	DUENDE	Damien	Parkes	IMS 52		1.2900
5980	FUTURE SHOCK	Craig	Ellis	Elliott 57		1.3500
601	GINGER	Leslie	Green	Swan 60		1.3769
AUS521	HOOLIGAN	Marcus	Blackmore	TP52	1.382
SYD100	INVESTEC LOYAL	Anthony	Bell	Elliott 100	1.911
10081	LAHANA	Millard/	Honan	Bakewell White 30m	1.683
AUS60000	LOKI	Stephen	Ainsworth	Reichel Pugh 63	1.517
SM11	SCARLET RUNNER	Robert	Date	RP 52	1.363
AUS280	SHOGUN V	Robert	Hanna	TP52	1.383
NOR2	SOUTHERN EXCELLENCE	Andrew	Wenham	Volvo 60		1.3200
AUS21	SPIRIT	Graeme	Wilson	IACC		1.3658
SM24	TERRA FIRMA	Nicholas	Bartels	Cookson 50	1.327
10001	WILD OATS XI	Robert	Oatley	Reichel Pugh 100	1.954
M10	WILD THING	Grant	Wharington	Jones 98 Maxi	1.805

To view the course maps go to http://www.cyca.com.au/editorial.asp?key=760

By Lisa Ratcliff/CYCA media

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