A fleet of 108 yachts is set to take on the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) 79th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race (RSHYR) on 26 December at 1300 hours.
Previous Tattersall Cup winners are in the fleet, including defending champion Alive, Centennial 7 (previously Celestial), Love & War, and Unicoin (won as Assassin).
Love & War is a classic yacht and one of a trio that won the race three times. This year, Phillip Kurts, son of owner Simon Kurts, is her skipper for the first time. The Kurts family are the first three generational family to sail the race – and on the same yacht as skippers.
“We’re absolutely capable of [winning the race]. The tougher the race is, the better we’ll go,” Kurts said of the weather forecast.
Six international entrants are in the 628 nautical mile race: Cocody (FRA), Poulpito (New Caledonia), Antipodes (Hong Kong), Centennial 7 (Philippines), Caro (New Zealand) and Bacchanal (USA).
All six states in Australia are represented, with New South Wales boasting 60 entries, Queensland 15, Victoria 13, Tasmania 8, South Australia 4 and Western Australia 2.
Four 100-footers are entered. Defending Line Honours winner Christian Beck’s LawConnect returns. She has twice won the John H Illingworth Challenge Cup, awarded to the Line Honours victor, the first time back in 2016 as Perpetual LOYAL.
Record holder and four-time Line Honours winner, Master Lock Comanche, is LawConnect’s main rival. Comanche is the race record holder, having broken the 2016 record. She has taken Line Honours four times now, with different owners and different prefixes in front of her name. Last year there was just 51 seconds between her and LawConnect.
“It was such a painful lead up to come second three times. To win was unbelievable,” Beck said of last year’s finish.
In a first, four-time Sydney Hobart Overall winner, Matt Allen and James Mayo, who was aboard Sovereign when she won the Line Honours and Overall double, will co-skipper Master Lock Comanche in the race.
“It’s such an iconic boat. It’s such an iconic race. To give it another run is just a terrific feeling,” Allen said.
Master Lock Comanche co-skippers Matt Allen and James Mayo and LawConnect owner and skipper Christian Beck standing in front of the trophy for the overall winner, Rolex timepiece and Line Honours trophy - Photo: Andrea Francolini
Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing 100 is back, but still carrying the mast she had as an 80 footer. Bill Barry-Cotter’s Maritimo 100, joins the fleet for the first time, but all comfort and luxury, she is not expected to challenge the others.
In the mix for Overall honours and expected to cross the finish line at the front end of the fleet, are the likes of CYCA Commodore Sam Haynes’ Celestial, the Volvo Open 70 formerly known as Willow. The Commodore won the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart with his TP52 of the same name and placed second in 2021, amongst his other notable results.
There are six 52-footers of various designs aiming to win the Tattersall Cup, including Smuggler, a TP52 owned by Sebastian Bohm. Smuggler leads the CYCA’s Audi Blue Water Pointscore with two races remaining – the final race is the non-discardable Sydney Hobart.
“To win the Blue Water Pointscore would be just a dream come true,” Bohm said. “We don’t mind when it gets windy. We’ve got quite a good crew that can handle it well. That sets us apart from the other boats.”
Caro, a Botin 52 skippered by Max Klink, could throw a spanner in the works. She was third in the 2022 Hobart, won the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race and won the CYCA’s Bird Island Race last weekend. However, Smuggler beat Caro in last year’s Hobart, so who knows?
Unicoin, Peter Bremner’s Farr 277 was originally an IMS Farr 40 one-off called Assassin. She co-won the Sydney Hobart in her launch year, 1992, when winners were announced in two rating bands.
Bremner, who was aboard for her 1992 win, bought her in February and has been busy converting her for the IRC rule, from which the Overall winner is decided.
“We’re confident that we’ve put together a program that can be competitive given the right conditions,” Bremner said.
Twenty-two Double Handed entries are competing. Gizmo will be co-skippered by Tuck and Meg Niblett, one of three all-female double handed teams in the race.
“It’s a lovely boat,” Tuck said of Gizmo. “It feels solid. It feels comfortable in the breeze. This boat feels like it’s going to get to Hobart and it’s going to get to Hobart fast.”
The two oldest yachts are also competing double-handed. Maritimo Katwinchar, built in 1904, is the oldest in the history of the race and 45 Sydney Hobarts veteran, Michael Spies will co-skipper her. Kismet, an Illingworth 30 launched in 1955, is second oldest and at 9.3 metres, the smallest. She is owned and co-skippered by 32-Hobarts yachtsman Sean Langman.
Women’s numbers continue to rise. Apart from those crewing, there are 16 owners or skippers, and/or co-skippers, in a fleet that offers everything from 30 to 100-footers. Unusually, nearly half the fleet is 40 feet and under.
With such a range of yachts, the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is set to be spectacular.
