Supermaxi shake-up for Sydney Hobart
Some 75 years after Royal Navy captain John Illingworth challenged a group of eight friends planning a post-war Christmas cruise from Sydney to Hobart with the question “Why don’t we make a race of it?”, some 170 yachts entered the 2019 edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, writes Crosbie Lorimer.
The fleet is expected to be led out of Sydney Heads on Boxing Day by up to five Australian-owned supermaxis. However, as we went to press, uncertainty surrounded several of the five. The Oatley family’s Wild Oats XI was in a race against time to make the start after a major mast compression and resultant deck failure during an early season offshore race. Seng Huang Lee’s SHK Scallywag was listed for sale in midnovember and rumours circulated that Jim Cooney’s Comanche might also be on the market.
Meanwhile, Peter Harburg’s Black Jack was in promising form, having taken line honours in her first offshore outing since her relaunch after major top-and-tail hull surgery to improve her downwind performance.
Ten former holders of the coveted Tattersall’s Cup for overall handicap win are vying again, including Philip Turner’s Alive, the Reichel Pugh 66 which won last year, Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban (Botin 52, won in 2017) and Simon Kurts veteran Love & War (Sparkman & Stephens 47, won in 2006).
Among the classics entered was the 1904 ketch Katwinchar. Sailed from England to Australia to take part in the 1951 race, the yacht was recently found in a derelict state by Bill Barrycotter (whose father owned the boat in the 1960s) and has been meticulously restored.
We’ll have a full report in the
March issue of Yachting World and you can follow the race tracker at rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker