Allen banking on luck

Top skipper ‘itching’ for another Sydney-Hobart crown

THE skipper of raging Sydney to Hobart yacht race handicap favourite Ichi Ban says all the technology, upgrades and state-of-the-art sails will mean nothing in next week’s 75th anniversary race if he doesn’t have one vital element — luck.

Matt Allen, who won the Sydney-Hobart in 2017 aboard his TP52-design grand prix racer, says crews can push a boat as hard as they can, but if Mother Nature does not smile on you, it’s all for nought.

“We’re the bookies’ favourite but we have been for the past three years,” Allen said.

“Being the favourite is a compliment to the season we’ve had, but in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart race you need to have everything going your way.”

Ichi Ban is one of 10 yachts in the 47ft to 55ft range that Allen says will challenge hardest for the Tattersalls Cup, held by defending champion, Tasmanian 66-footer Alive.

Allen’s fiercest rivals will be from Katwinchar (NSW), three-times winner Love & War (NSW), 47-footer St Jude skippered by CYCA Vice Commodore Noel Cornish, the TP52 Zen (NSW), and the Farr 55 Hollywood Boulevard (NSW).

“We’ve got a good all-round boat but it depends on the conditions,” Allen said. “The early indications are that it’s going to be a race that suits us.

“It will have a few different breeze angles, but it’s a bit early to be too confident of that. A bit of luck is what we need — you’ve got to have luck to win this race. You can work hard and lead the race overall and then you break a rudder or you get becalmed — everyone’s got a story like that, and so do we. It’s part of the fascination of the race.”

The fleet for the 75th Hobart has been reduced from its original entry of 170 yachts, down to 157 with the withdrawal this week of Conquest, Hummingbird, Sailing Poland and Samurai Jack.