With line honours in the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race decided, attention now turns to contenders for the Tattersall Cup, awarded to the overall winner of the race every year.
Sam Haynes, Commodore of race organiser, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, sailed his charter, Celestial V70, to second over the line. The team finished at 0510hrs, after 1 day, 16 hours, 10 minutes and 20 seconds of racing and is looking solid to win his second Sydney Hobart, having taken the mantle in 2022 with his TP52, Celestial, which also finished second overall in 2021.
Commodore Haynes has proved time and again his worth as a skipper who possesses a good eye for the right boat and crew. And as it turns out, his chartered boat, a Volvo Open 70, was just the right vessel for the conditions the race has delivered this year. And it is by far the best result for the yacht that has just done its fifth Sydney Hobart.
Commodore Haynes, who is thrilled to bits with their performance, especially as one of his sons, William, was aboard, spoke of their race dockside this morning.
“I think Bass Strait was the hardest part. That was where we went through that transition. It built and built. The sea state was wild. Big seas running, I'd say probably 40 plus knots,” Commodore Haynes said.
“There was a lot of spray, and the boat was charging. So, everyone had to work extremely hard. That was the hardest part, but there were plenty of hard parts,” he said.
Knowing there were casualties in the fleet, the yachtsman said: “We had to throttle back, but it's hard to slow this boat down. That's one of the problems. We had a J4 (spinnaker) up and the plan was to get it down and change to a storm sail, but then the J4 got broken.
“We ended up with storm sail for a lot longer, which worked out fine. So those sorts of things came and went. We pushed the boat pretty hard though, but tried to keep it at a safe speed, under control.”
Celestial V70 crosses the finish line in the River Derwent - Photo: Salty Dingo
When he saw the forecast for the race, Commodore Haynes was as pleased as punch. “They say that Volvo 70s aren't exactly a Hobart boat, but it was a Volvo 70 type forecast, so I was so glad to be on it. It was much more comfortable than my TP52 would have been as well.”
Aware that the bulk of the fleet was a fair way behind, Celestial’s skipper said: “We've looked at the speeds they'll have to do and feel like it's going to be hard to get knocked off (for Overall) but you just don't know.”
Celestial V70 skipper Sam Haynes - Photo: Salty Dingo
Having sold his TP52 to Ernesto Echauz, the race’s first Filipino entry, Commodore Haynes said: “I’d put away my offshore gear and was going to do Cape 31 and J70 events. But this boat became available for me to charter, and I was interested.
“And then I thought I'd like to start the race as a commodore of the Club. We hadn’t had a sailing commodore for a little bit and I thought it'd be a good time to do it.”
“I love the race, it's quite special. One of those things we always sort of think, ‘Okay, I'm glad I've won it. I'm glad I've got back to life.’ And then here I am again, having another shot at it.”
So, would he do it again?
“No, never. Not until next time. (Laughs). It's a hard no, but maybe…”
