It’s a very long time since Adrienne Cahalane was regularly near Lough Derg. But though she and her section of the family emigrated to Australia when she was very young, those left behind such as cousin Aisling Keller have been involved with sailing Derg, and they’ve been quietly celebrating her outstanding victory as navigator of the overall winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2023. On Cahalane’s correct advice, the Tasmanian-based RP66 Alive kept to the east of the direct line in the middle stages of the race, and for a boat of this size, it was the successful tactic.

Those astern such as the TP52s found it paid better to be down the middle of the continually changing conditions, but for Alive it was precisely the right call, and a remarkable achievement by a sailor/navigator/tactician doing her 31st Hobart race.

And for those who say we’re stretching it by saying Adrienne Cahalan is an Irish sailor, we’d point out that her two professional degrees are as a lawyer and as a specialist in applied meteorology, and if that’s not the most quintessentially Irish combination of qualifications, then we don’t know what is.

Alive, skippered by Duncan Hine, has been declared the overall winner of the 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, securing the Tasmanian boat its second victory in five years.

Hine lauded his 14 crew which included Irish-born navigator Adrienne Cahalane, for whom it was a 31st Sydney Hobart (a record for women), and New Zealanders Gavin Brady and Stu Bannatyne and the rest of the crew.

The win is also Tasmania’s fifth in the 628 nautical mile Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s race after Hine skippered Phillip Turner’s Reichel/Pugh 66 to her first victory in 2018.

Alive’s win adds extra polish to the pedigree of the boat that its owner, Philip Turner, bought the former Black Jack in 2014, with a view to winning the race.

After it’s victory in 2018, Alive came close again in 2019, but placed fourth. Last year, she finished 10th.

Asked how he felt to win a second Sydney Hobart, Hine laughed and said: “It goes to prove finally that it [2018] wasn't a fluke.” Then he added: “I'm very lucky, really. Phil has such an amazing boat to start with. We’ve got a really good crew. And the weather was good for us.”

Alive’s win is the highlight of an extraordinary year for the boat. This year, Alive also claimed overall honours at Hamilton Island Race Week, the Brisbane to Hamilton Island Race and Bruny Island Race, as well as line honours in the King of the Derwent Regatta.

“It’s been a remarkable year for the boat,” said Hine adding that while Turner did not sail on Alive this year unlike in 2018, he has celebrated with him over “quick chat or two” by phone.

The result also signs off on a terrific performance for Reichel/Pugh in the race, as the top three overall came from their design board, with the RP72 URM Group finishing third over the line for second overall and RP69, Moneypenny, taking third place overall.

“Reichel/Pugh designs are proving to be a pretty lucky for many of these races,” Hine said.

Asked what was the key point of the race that shored up Alive’s victory, Hine cited the last stretch up the Derwent River to the finish and their nail-biting tussle with URM Group.

The skipper said, “It was a cliffhanger right up to the bloody finish, wasn't it? The Derwent River always pulls something out of the bag.

Alive near the Organ Pipes in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Photo: Kurt Arrigo

Hine and his crew had to play a waiting game until this morning when the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia declared Alive the winner of the prestigious Tattersall Cup.

Hine said he felt more at ease during the “waiting game” for that confirmation than in 2018.

“I felt a lot more confident about it than in 2018,” he said. “I thought it was going to be hard to lose from where we were. If someone had knocked us off, they would have deserved it.”

“We worked so hard all the way through that race. Everyone put in 100 per cent,” Hine said.

“You don't always walk away feeling like you've done the best you could have personally, but I don’t think anyone would have hopped off the boat feeling they could have put more in.”

The Alive crew:

Skipper: Duncan Hine, Sailing Master: Gavin Brady, Navigator: Adrienne Cahalan, Darren Jones, Shane Gaddes, Stu Bannatyne, Sam Tiedemann, Dean Van Teylingen, Silas Nolan, Brad Farrand, Sean O’Rourke, Logan Andersen, Christopher Cowan

Benoit Falletti (Rolex) and Arthur Lane (Commodore CYCA) present the Tattersall Cup to Sydeny hobrt Race winner Duncan Hine, skipper of Alive  Photo: Kurt Arrigo

There have been last-minute changes in personnel reported on the leading American challenger for the 628-mile race to Hobart tomorrow (Monday). Offaly-born Australian-based sailing superstar and ace navigator Adrienne Cahalane, a veteran of 30 Hobart races with overall and class wins to her credit, has been recruited aboard Chris Sheehan's US TP52 champion Warrior Won, having previously been listed as a crew member on Tom Kneen's 2021 Fastnet Race overall winner, the JPK 1180 Sunrise.

The re-arrangement on Warrior Won has apparently meant the standing-down of Howth's Shane Diviney from the crew.