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Rolex Sydney Hobart Race winner decided by 51 seconds

• Helen Fretter
• December 27, 2023

The 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race line honours battle is settled in the final gybe after one of the closest finishes in the race’s history, with Law Connect winning ahead of long-time leader Andoo Comanche.

Law Connect has won the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race line honours, after the closest finish in over 40 years, which ended in a gybe-for-gybe battle up the Derwent River against long-time leader Andoo Comanche .

Andoo Comanche held the advantage going into the Derwent with a two-mile lead, John Winning Jr’s crew crowded onto the bow in the light early morning winds to try and lift Comanche’s 8m beamy transom, which gives the yacht the nickname the ‘aircraft carrier’.  

Law Connect followed up the Derwent River with a knot or two more breeze, and were able to close the gap some two miles from the finish line, but the waters outside Hobart were littered with glassy patches, and each boat repeatedly battled to maintain hull speed through windless holes.

After 628 miles of racing, the lead changed repeatedly in the final half hour, with Law Connect taking the advantage on the final gybe for the line to roll over the top of Andoo Comanche and cross the line ahead.  

Law Connect overtakes Andoo Comanche metres from the finish line of the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. Photo: Rolex/Kurt Arrigo

It was an exceptional display of light winds tactical match racing, with Law Connect helmsman Tony Mutter and tactician Chris Nicholson directing Christian Beck’s team to victory, after being 2nd on three previous years . Law Connect crossed the Castray Esplanade finish line in Hobart at 08.03.58am local time after 1 day 19 hours 03 minutes 58 seconds of racing.

Beck gave a self-deprecating speech after, praising the crew for their efforts on a boat he admitted was not as fast or well-funded as their rivals. “I honestly can’t believe it. I rated it about a 25% chance we’d win, so to win was just amazing.

“An hour ago we were about 3 miles behind Comanche, so to win – I still can’t believe it.”

Law Connect (SYD 1000)a Juan K 100ft Custom design, on its way to winning the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.

Mixed 2023 Sydney Hobart Race

The 2023 edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart has so far seen truly mixed conditions. The Boxing Day start delivered its customary spectacle, as the three 100ft maxis led the fleet out of a packed Sydney Habour. Law Connect gave an impromptu demonstration of how to gybe a giant overlapping headsail after breaking a furling line that left them unable to tack around a turning mark, while Scallywag took penalty turns once in clear water after a port-starboard incident with Comanche shortly after the start.

Start of the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart yacht race. Photo: Rolex/Andrea Francolini

Over the first two days of racing the fleet had to contend with electrical storms, squalls and severe sea states, as well as periods of light winds, and there have been 11 retirements so far. They included another line honours hopeful, the 100ft Scallywag , which had to retire after snapping the bowsprit in the first day of racing.

Other boats retired due to rigging damage, mainsail damage, and severe seasickness caused by the unpleasant sea state.  

Most dramatically the double-handed entry Rum Rebellion retired after being knocked down and having a Man Overboard, who was safely recovered.  

Co-skipper Shane Connelly reported that they were approximately 20 miles offshore on the first evening of the race, sailing under full main and spinnaker in 6-10 knots of wind, when the wind suddenly increased to over 16 knots with a ‘ferocious’ looking storm cloud approaching from behind.  

The duo prepared to drop the spinnaker, but a micro-burst of wind hit the yacht, causing a knockdown. Connelly, who had gone forwards during the spinnaker drop, was thrown overboard but tethered, and as the boat righted was lifted back onboard. He reported after: “The safety drills and systems all worked and we could sort ourselves out”

The stormy conditions caused issues across the fleet on the first night. Aboard the Santa Cruz 72 Antipodes crew member Geoff Cropley reported this morning: “We had lightning and thunder for hours. Then there was a major wind shift which auto gybed the boat.

“The spinnaker got wrapped in the drop, along with spinnaker staysail. All the team was up and trying to untwist and get that down. It took us about 40 minutes. We were heading north-east and sailing backwards for a period of time.

“We’re now hunkered down with a reef in the main. There’s little bit of blue sky. It’s quite nice out here.”

Azzuro, an S&S 34 owned by Jack Kliner, with crew including Jessica Watson, during the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. Photo: Rolex/Andrea Francolini

Meanwhile the battle for IRC overall continues. IRC 1 contender Alive , a Reichel Pugh 66 with a talent-packed crew including Gavin Brady, Stu Bannatyne and legendary Australian navigator Adrienne Cahalan, a veteran of 30 Hobart races. Close behind them on the IRC rankings is Hobart grandee, Sean Langman on the Reichel Pugh 69 Moneypenny led IRC 0, while the  S&S 34 Azzurro raced by Jessica Watson  is fastest of the small boats on the current IRC rankings.  

2023 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Race on ‘merit’, race onboard the volvo 60 ‘merit’ in the world-famous classic rolex sydney to hobart yacht race..

Be part of the crew on a thoroughbred racer – you’ll be fully involved in sailing the boat.

*** This is not a commercial charter. Michael Schwarzel is campaigning the boat privately. Each crew member contributes to the cost of participating in the event: individual contribution is $9.9k. ***

‘Merit’ is full for the 2023 Sydney Hobart. Email to register interest for 2024

Or phone 0488 068719

Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is an occasion as much as a race. Each Boxing Day (26th December) a flotilla of sleek yachts races out of Sydney Harbour, following Australia’s east coast down to Tasmania, where the yachts arrive in the city of Hobart in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve. This race is about more than sails and speed – it brings Sydney and Hobart to life as they celebrate one of the country’s great sporting events. 

Don’t be left sitting on the sidelines watching from your armchair. Be part of the spectacle and get in on the action on ‘Merit’.

Your crew contribution includes:

• Race Entry fees
• Racing shirt and cap
• 24-hour 150 nautical mile qualifying passage
• Passage back from Hobart to Sydney (optional)

The training camp

Five days of intense training covering all the basics of sail handling and yacht racing. This program incorporates a 150 nautical mile qualifying passage.

Your Skipper

Owner/Skipper Michael Schwarzel holds a Royal Yachting Association Offshore Yachtmaster Certificate and is a qualified sailing instructor.

Experience? He’s crossed oceans, won trophies, dealt with those moments at sea you’d rather avoid, plus rebuilt ‘Merit’ almost from scratch after Cyclone Debbie. With his ‘plan, prepare, execute’ approach, even novices feel safe and have an excellent time participating on board.

2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on 'Merit' - the Schedule

Whitsundays to Southport

6th – 12th December

Delivery trip (optional)

Southport to Sydney  

15th – 20th December

Qualifying Passage (included in contribution)

Training Days

21st – 22nd December

Sydney Harbour (included in contribution)

Sydney Hobart Race  

26th – 30th December

Counting on 3 days only

Hobart to Sydney    

2nd – 7th January

Return trip (included in contribution)

Sydney to Southport

9th – 13th January 

Return trip (optional)

Southport to Whitsundays     

16th – 21st January  

Prerequisites

• wet weather gear
• SSSC (safety cert.)
• sailing experience (min. RYA Competent Crew Course if no sailing experience)

Recommended

• travel insurance

“Wow! … Thank you for the experience of a lifetime.”

The Moreton Group

“I’d never been sailing before, much less on a vessel built for speed. What a truly enjoyable experience.”

“Don’t miss this great opportunity to experience offshore yacht racing at its best.”

*** Credit for the images of The Moreton Group on ‘Merit’ goes to the fabulous Lucinda Bartkaitas of LB Designs , who travelled as a guest of The Moreton Group . Lu is one gutsy photographer! ***

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ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE: A FULL EXAMINATION

Hobart, 1 January 2022  – Without doubt, the 76th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race delivered on the event’s formidable reputation. It was a race of two decidedly different halves. The first was a punishing test of physical endurance and perseverance. The second questioned mental resilience and tactical judgment. Organized since 1945 by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, with the support of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, the race has been partnered by Rolex since 2002.

The lead up to the 2021 race was overshadowed by the prospect of a brutal first 24 to 48 hours of strong southerly wind combining with opposing current to build a threatening sea state. The exacting conditions probed for weakness in equipment and mindset. Despite all the intense and detailed preparation within the 88-boat fleet, so unrelenting was the scrutiny that over a third would be forced to retire. For those that made it through, any sense of relief was short-lived with the final stages of the race setting a more cerebral challenge. A shifting weather pattern required crews to piece together a complex three-dimensional on-the-water jigsaw puzzle. When sailing, the shortest course between two points is rarely a straight line. This was never more true than during this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart.

The overall win on time correction was eventually secured by Matt Allen’s 52 foot (15.85 metre) Ichi Ban. Previously winners in 2017 and 2019, the Australian crew joined two other yachts within the legend of the race to achieve three victories and is the first, since Freya in the 1960s, to lift the Tattersall Cup in back-to-back races. According to the winning owner, Matt Allen:

“ It is amazing to be part of the history and fabric of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. ”

With 31 races under his belt, the first back in 1980 aged 17, Allen has plenty of experience to draw upon. He felt this edition had provided a full and extensive examination of seamanship:

“ Most races to Hobart do test the entire boat and crew, but I think this year’s probably more than ever. The wave conditions we saw through the first 24 hours really caused big issues for the boats. Then to have that very complicated tactical situation for the rest of the race really [meant] decision-making was absolutely critical .”

The contest to be first to finish was no less enthralling, with three 100ft (30.5m) maxis dogfighting virtually the length of the 628 nautical mile racecourse. SHK Scallywag 100 led out of the harbour, but a sail-handling issue let her rivals slip past. LawConnect then traded the lead with Black Jack, until Peter Harburg’s Monegasque flagged and Australian-crewed entry acted decisively in the light winds to build an advantage that survived a nail-biting drift up the Derwent River to Hobart.

Resilience and human accomplishment are qualities which have long bound Rolex and the sport of sailing. The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has once again demonstrated how offshore racing is both a competitive and personal challenge. Starting under a grey, but sunlit sky, as the yachts exited through Sydney Heads the building waves quickly made life onboard increasingly uncomfortable. While the race could easily be lost in this period, it was certainly not won. Once across Bass Strait, the complexion may have changed, but not intensity. All those that made it to the finish may reflect with pride on their achievement, on summoning their deepest resources and their unwavering commitment.

A NATURAL AND SUPPORTIVE PARTNER Rolex has always associated with activities driven by passion, excellence, precision and team spirit. The Swiss watchmaker naturally gravitated towards the elite world of yachting six decades ago and the brand’s enduring partnership now encompasses the most prestigious clubs, races and regattas, as well as towering figures in the sport, including ground-breaking round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester and the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, Sir Ben Ainslie. Today, Rolex is Title Sponsor of 15 major international events – from leading offshore races such as the annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race, to grand prix competition at the Rolex TP52 World Championship and spectacular gatherings at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and the Rolex Swan Cup. It also supports the exciting SailGP global championship in which national teams race identical supercharged F50 catamarans on some of the world’s most famous harbours. Rolex’s partnerships with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, New York Yacht Club and Royal Yacht Squadron, among others, are the foundation of its enduring relationship with this dynamic sport.

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Virginie Chevailler

Giles Pearman

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Rolex sydney to hobart yacht race preview: the two big dogs vying for glory.

Sydney to Hobart contender reveals secret weapon to take on skinny boats

The Seven Network’s summer sport offering is getting hotter with the 77th running of the iconic Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on Boxing Day.

Complete with 120 boats, including four 100-foot Maxis, the race will host an international fleet as they sail from Sydney to Hobart for the first time since 2019.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Rolex Sydney Hobart contender reveals secret weapon to take on skinny boats .

How to watch

The Rolex Sydney Hobart will be live and free from 12:30pm AEDT on Boxing Day on 7mate and 7plus .

Sydney 12.30pm on 7mate and 7plus

Melbourne 12.30pm on 7mate and 7plus

Brisbane 11.30am on 7mate and 7plus

Adelaide 12.00pm on 7mate and 7plus

Perth 9.30am on 7mate and 7plus

Commentary team

Hosted by acclaimed sports broadcaster Mark Beretta, Seven’s commentary team will be bolstered by Peter Shipway, a veteran who boasts more than 30 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Races; Jimmy Spithill, an America’s Cup and Sydney Hobart Line Honours winning skipper; and Seven’s own Emma Freedman, who will broadcast live from Super Maxi, Andoo Comanche.

The top contenders

Australian sailing great Iain Murray has predicted a classic Sydney to Hobart tussle between the two big dogs of the sailing kennel: comparing one to a great dane, the other a greyhound.

A former regatta director of the America’s Cup, Murray is preparing for his maiden voyage aboard Andoo Comanche, one of four 30-metre supermaxi yachts charting a course to Hobart from Sydney Harbour from Boxing Day.

Comanche has blitzed the pre-Hobart events - most recently taking line honours at December’s Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour - and Tuesday’s long-range weather forecast only underlines her chances.

The other boat best suited to the predicted northerly and northeasterly winds is nine-time line honours champion Hamilton Island Wild Oats - formerly Wild Oats XI - upon which Murray has sailed in 15 previous editions of the race.

“They’re completely different boats,” Murray, who is Comanche’s sailing master for the 2022 race, told AAP.

“We’ve sort of got a greyhound and a great dane.

“One of them (Comanche) is an immensely powerful, big, wide boat and the other (Wild Oats) is a sleek, skinny little sprinter that just doesn’t have the same power.

“But it doesn’t have the drag, either.

“(Comanche) is probably a harder boat to sail. It’s got to be respected because the loads are just enormous.

“The potential to damage equipment, damage people - you’ve got to be very careful and tempered.”

Wild Oats navigator Stan Honey, who sailed with Comanche on her maiden Sydney to Hobart in 2014, agreed the predicted conditions would favour the supermaxis.

By the time the wind is predicted to shift on December 28, Wild Oats, Comanche, LawConnect and Black Jack are likely to have already made their way up the Derwent River to dock at Kings Pier.

“At this point, it does look like it could be a big boat race. It looks like the big boats will be able to do most of the race in that northeasterly,” Honey said.

But despite the favourable conditions, Murray is not expecting any records to tumble this time around.

Andoo Comanche’s latest estimates have her on track to complete the race in roughly 36 hours - shy of the line honours record of 33 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds she set in 2017.

“We did some routing runs this morning and they had us finishing at two o’clock in the morning. I know Black Jack’s was similar,” Murray said.

Sydney Hobart Yacht Race competition grows.

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On Some Boats for the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Three’s a Crowd

Smaller vessels with two-man crews are competing for the first time. But, thanks to their use of autopilots, they can’t win the top trophy.

By David Schmidt

There’s a beautiful simplicity to two-handed offshore sailboat racing: two sailors, one boat and a lot of blue.

For many offshore sailors, participating in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race aboard a fully crewed boat is a serious undertaking. But the 18 two-handed teams competing in this year’s edition of this 628-nautical-mile race are sharing an entire team’s worth of adventure — and responsibility — with just one other person.

In 2019, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, which organizes the race, announced a new two-handed division for the 2020 race. The decision was driven by a global surge in the popularity of short-handed sailing and the prospect of a mixed two-person keelboat offshore event at the Paris 2024 Olympics in Paris.

But the 2020 Sydney Hobart race was canceled because of the pandemic, and then the International Olympic Committee did not add the keelboat event to the Paris Games.

Still, the Sydney Hobart’s newest class has become popular and accounts for 19 percent of the 94-boat fleet at the starting line on Sunday.

“I am a big fan of the double-handed sailing concept, and it is great to see the Rolex Sydney to Hobart organizers embracing this side of the sport,” said Stu Bannatyne of New Zealand, an experienced offshore sailor who has won the Volvo Ocean Race four times. “The race for sure has inherent risks as we all well know, and double-handing it just means the crew needs to be very aware of the limitations of themselves and the boat.”

Wendy Tuck, a veteran of 13 Sydney Hobart races, is on a two-handed boat this year.

“I wanted a new adventure,” said Tuck, the only female sailor to have won an around-the-world race as skipper. Tuck is sailing with her co-skipper Campbell Geeves aboard Speedwell , a Beneteau 34.7. “It’s the smallest boat that I’ve gone south on,” she said, referring to Hobart. She added that while she has done a lot of short-handed sailing, she is still new to two-handed racing.

Rob Gough, a veteran of the 2019 race and an accomplished dinghy sailor, said it was the challenge that attracted him to two-handed racing. He and John Saul, a veteran of the 1998 race that killed six sailors and sank five boats, are sailing their Akilaria Class 40, Sidewinder.

“We both like being really involved,” Gough said, adding that with two-handed racing both sailors get to be “skipper, cook, trimmer, tactician, radio operator and navigator.”

Serious offshore sailors often say that races are really won during the boat preparation before the race. Two-handed sailing is no different, except that there are fewer crew members to tackle the details.

Given the race’s tough reputation, organizers require teams to complete qualifications, including first-aid certification, radio-operator training and survival-at-sea instruction. Aboard fully crewed boats, only some of the sailors need to complete this training. In the two-handed division, both skippers must fulfill these requirements, in addition to completing previous (and specific) offshore races and a 24-hour passage together on their boats.

Then there is the task of outfitting a boat to potentially withstand more than 50-knot winds and massive seas.

“The boat has done 30,000-odd miles of two-handed sailing, so it’s all set up,” said Rod Smallman, who is racing aboard Maverick, a Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600, with his co-skipper Leeton Hulley. This is Smallman’s second Sydney Hobart race and Hulley’s seventh. “Once it’s set up, it’s all tinkering and maintenance.”

One decision about two-handed racing equipment has been controversial.

Autopilot systems, which steer a boat to a specified compass course or wind angle, free the crew to trim sails, perform other duties or rest. Unlike fully crewed boats, two-handed teams can use autopilots in this year’s race.

However, the yacht club announced last year that two-handed teams would not qualify for the Tattersall Cup, which is awarded to the race’s overall corrected-time (handicap) winner. The two-handed division is competing for its own trophy.

“We need to better understand the level of advantage that autopilots might provide to yachts of differing types,” Noel Cornish, the club’s commodore, who officiates for the club, said last year. “The status and prestige of the Tattersall Cup in world sailing requires a thorough understanding of all the issues before any new division is granted eligibility.”

Not surprisingly, some two-handed teams were not pleased.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was really disappointed that we’re not racing for the Tattersall,” Tuck said, noting that some crewed boats use powered winches to trim their sails and hydraulic systems to swing their canting keels. “But at the end of the day, I’m really happy we can enter as a two-handed boat.”

Smallman was also disappointed and noted that other international races allowed these teams to compete for the same top-shelf trophy as fully crewed boats.

Unlike human drivers, whose ability to steer a precise course typically wanes after 20 or 30 minutes, autopilots never tire. But Matt Eeles, product director for the autopilot manufacturer B&G, said that when sailing in big waves, autopilots were purely reactionary, not predictive, as they cannot see ahead or behind the yacht. “I think a human would outperform an autopilot in these conditions,” he said.

Some high-budget round-the-world sailing teams have recently developed autopilots that incorporate sophisticated gyro-stabilized compasses, secondary processing computers, custom software and sensor networks, but this is not the technology that Gough, Smallman and Tuck are using.

“It’s a bit rich to suggest that autopilots will give us an advantage to fully crewed boats,” Gough said, explaining that Sidewinder has a B&G autopilot.

Critically, the race crosses Bass Strait , a section of about 160 nautical miles that separates southern Australia and Tasmania. Average water depth is roughly 200 feet. Couple these shallow waters with the generally south-flowing East Australia Current and the strong southerly weather fronts — “busters” in race parlance — that oppose the current, and the seas can, and regularly do, become ferocious.

“If you’ve got the skills to put your boat where the wind is, it’s going to beat having a better autopilot every single day of the week,” Smallman said, adding that he still planned to let the autopilot drive whenever possible. “Boat handling. Seamanship. There’s just a list as long as your arm that’s going to outperform the importance of a pilot.”

Other two-handed skippers, including Tuck and Geeves, also plan to predominantly use their autopilot and focus on sail trim and tactics.

Regardless, sleep deprivation is a concern for two-handed teams in the multiday race.

“We’ll get into our rest cycle two or three hours after the start,” said Gough, explaining that he and Saul would alternate between sailing and resting every two hours.

Smallman and Hulley plan to run a similar schedule, weather depending, with roughly 15-minute crossovers at the below-decks navigation table, looking at their charts, weather forecasts and their tactical racing software. “We sort of tend to play little games,” Smallman said. “We might try to make a mile on the boat in front of us within our shifts.”

Then there is changing sails or reducing the amount of sail area alone or with the other sailor. “Getting the spinnaker down is the toughest part,” Tuck said. While more modern boats have spinnakers that can be furled into snakelike rolls using winches and then lowered in a controlled manner, Speedwell is old-school.

“We have to get the spinnaker down while it’s still set,” she said, describing wrestling with the huge, still-inflated sail. “It’s a big challenge.”

This challenge will be greatly magnified if the weather turns serious.

While the bigger, faster boats can sometimes out sail the worst storms, Tuck expects to see at least two busters en route to Hobart. “Hopefully no more,” she said. “The Hobart can be so rough, and we’re in a tiny little boat.”

Others note that, while the changing climate has recently delivered relatively mild Sydney Hobart races, all bull markets end. “There hasn’t been a rough race for a few years,” Gough said. “We’re well and truly due in for one.”

Should that happen, it will be seamanship, experience and preparation, not autopilots, that will dictate the results. “It’s all in the wind gods and each team’s decisions,” Tuck said. “And that word, luck.”

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2024

• About the race
• Southern Cross Cup
• Race Reports
• Start & Finish Villages
• Hobart & Beyond
• John Bennetto
• Trygve & Magnus Halvorsen
• Hobart Heroes
• David Pescud - SWD
• Richard Hammond

Over 1,000 people crew on board the yachts contesting each Rolex Sydney Hobart; they come from many countries of the world and from many different professions. Each year many international crew make the journey to Sydney Australia to take part in this great race.

The head of the crew is the skipper and often the skipper also owns the yacht. Other posititions on board include the helmsperson, navigator, tactician, trimmers and foredeck person or for'ard hand.

Each yacht carries between six (the minimum) and 24 crew members, the average across the fleet being 10-11.

An outcome of the stormy 1998 race is that at least 50 per cent of all crew members, including the skipper, must have completed a Sea Safety Survival Course. The course involves a number of exercises such as deploying a life raft, righting it when it capsizes and knowing what to do inside a life raft at sea if the yacht has to be abandoned. Other exercises include the use of safety equipment, weather and emergency procedures.

In the bygone era, ocean yacht racing was a largely male sport, but nowadays most yachts carry mixed crews. Indeed, as a very social sport, sailing encourages men, women and families to participate. Several yachts in the Rolex Sydney Hobart will be crewed by families, fathers and their sons and daughters, brothers and husbands and wives.

The minimum age to compete in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is 18 years of age.  In 2006, Will Ryan turned 18 just three days before undertaking his first Hobart aboard Graeme Wood's Wot's Next.   Jim Delegat's son, James Delegat, was the youngest competitor in the 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart, and won the race overall on  Giacomo .

There is no upper age limit, in fact in 2008 two octogenarian sailors, John Walker, at 86 the oldest skipper ever to race to Hobart, and eighty-one-year-old Syd Fischer.  Walker retired after the 2008 race having completed 25 Hobarts, whilst Fischer topped Walker's record in 2015, when he competed at the age of 88 aboard his super maxi Ragamuffin 100. In the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2007, Victorian yachtsman Lou Abrahams and Sydney yachtsman Tony Cable equalled the record for the most Hobarts for an individual, 44, set by the late Tasmanian yachtsman John Bennetto.  In 2008, Tony Cable undertook his historic 45th Hobart race to create a new record for the most number of Hobarts by an individual.  Cable then broke his own record in 2011 when he sailed his 46th Hobart on Duende , a TP52 owned by Damian Parkes.  In 2015, Tony Cable sailed his 50th Hobart race on Duende,  a milestone which he then bettered in 2016, making it a total 51 races, and in 2018 he did his 52nd. 

Adrienne Cahalan became the first woman to compete in 25 Sydney Hobart Races in the history of the race in 2016.  She has  navigated Wild Oats XI to five line honours victories, including two trebles – line honours, overall win and race record.  In total, Cahalan has six Hobart line honours and two overall Hobart wins to her name.

In 2016, Bradshaw Kellett set a record of being the youngest to race in 25 consecutive Sydney Hobarts.  Brad did his first Sydney Hobart at the age of 16, and due to the compulsory minimum age of 18 introduced from 1999, his record will never be broken. 

Another record that was set in 2016, is the father and son combination of Bruce and Drew Taylor, who have done 25 Sydney Hobart Yacht Races together, in the same crew. 

OFFICIAL ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART MERCHANDISE

Shop the official clothing range of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in person at the Club in New South Head Road, Darling Point or online below.  

From casual to technical clothing, there is something for all occasions. Be quick as stock is limited!

VIDEO : Yacht teams prepare for dangerous conditions in Sydney to Hobart race

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Potential thunderstorms, powerful winds and hail are threatening to put a damper on the contest.

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