Frantic and Lucky – That’s the Main Irish Interest in Sydney-Hobart Race 2025

Q: How many yachts have competed between 1945-2019 in the Sydney Hobart Yacht?

6257 completed the Sydney Hobart Yacht race, 1036 retired or were disqualified)

Q: What were the largest Sydney Hobart Race fleets?

Largest fleets: 371 starters in the 50th race in 1994 (309 finished); 154 starters in 1987 (146 finished); 179 starters in 1985 (145 finished); 151 starters in 1984 (46 finished); 173 started in 1983 (128 finished); 159 started in 1981 (143 finished); 147 started in 1979 (142 finished); 157 started in 2019 (154 finished)

Q: Who was the 2019 Sydney Hobart Race winner?

IRC Overall: Ichi Ban, a TP52 owned by Matt Allen, NSW Last year’s line honours winner: Comanche, Verdier Yacht Design and VPLP (FRA) owned by Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant, in 1 day 18 hours, 30 minutes, 24 seconds. Just 1hour 58min 32secs separated the five super maxis at the finish

Frantic and Lucky – That’s the Main Irish Interest in Sydney-Hobart Race 2025

24th December 2025

WM Nixon

How did she do that? The JK-designed 27 metre Lucky, then known as George David’s Rambler 88, finds a small but sufficient gap in the knot of boats at the Guardship end of the start line in the 2016 Round Ireland Race at Wicklow to get clear away, and then go on to establish a course record that still looks likely to stand for many years. Credit: WM Nixon

Frantic, but then – let’s hope let’s pray – genuinely lucky. It could be a universally-applicable description of the average Irish household through the mad countdown hours of Christmas Eve.

But out in Sydney, where the start countdown is already on for the record fleet setting off in the 80th Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race on Saint Stephen’s Boxing Day aka 26th December, Frantic and Lucky are two boats to which we apply an almost proprietorial interest.

The TP 52 Frantic (Michael Martin) will be facing tougher conditions than this in the 2025 Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race

Irish involvement may be thinner than it has been in times past – all glory to 1991, lest we forget. But nevertheless Clontarf Y&BC ex-Pat Trevor Smyth is heading out for his third Bass Strait Bash, the second he has done with former Wallaby international Michael Martin on the veteran TP52 Frantic.

Them were the days…. John Storey’s Frers 43 Atara was overall winner racing for Ireland in the 1991 Sydney-Hobart Race, with Harold Cudmore as skipper and Gordon Maguire as lead helm. Maguire has since done 26 Hobart Races, winning five.

Trevor Smyth in Auckland with the trophy for overall victory in the 2024 Sydney-Auckland race.

Meanwhile, up among the 30 metre biggies at the front of the fleet, Bryon Ehrhart’s 27 metre JK-designed Lucky is seen as the giant slayer among the hundred foot Super-Maxis, as she’s “only” 88ft long. Here in Ireland, she’s regarded with interest as the ultimate mono-hull record-setter from the 2016 Round Ireland race, when she was George David’s Rambler 88.

Extra interest is added as Frank O’Leary (formerly of Kinsale) is on the 100ft SHK Scallywag, having moved across from the 2024 win with Sam Haynes on the V70 Celestial to join an ultra-big boat crew that also includes Crosshaven’s Grattan Roberts.

The 100ft Scallywag’s crew includes Kinsale’s Frank O’Leary and Crosshaven’s Gratt Roberts. Photo: RSHR

Frantic and Lucky have crossed swords already in this southern season, as Lucky lived up to her name by arriving in the nick of time in October for the start of the 1,200 mile trans-Tasman Sydney-Auckland race. Last year, Frantic put a tight hold on this new event, winning overall and taking line honours, but all that has been moved onto a new plane in 2025 with Lucky doing the same, only with turbo power this time round.

The Sydney-Hobart course. It is one of the world’s few classic offshore racing courses where the fleet finishes the race significantly further from the Equator than it started.

Published in Sydney to Hobart

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Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

About The Author

WM Nixon

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.

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The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an annual offshore yacht racing event with an increasingly international exposure attracting super maxi yachts and entries from around tne world. It is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, New South Wales on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. The race distance is approximately 630 nautical miles (1,170 km).

The 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race starts in Sydney Harbour at 1pm (AEDT) on Monday 26 December.

This is the 77th edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart. The inaugural race was conducted in 1945 and has run every year since, apart from 2020, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

88 boats started the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart, with 50 finishing.

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - FAQs

How many Sydney Hobart Yacht Races have been sailed?

The number of Sydney Hobart Yacht Races held by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia since 1945 is 75

How many yachts have competed between 1945-2019 in the Sydney Hobart Yacht?

6,257 completed the Sydney Hobart Yacht race, 1036 retired or were disqualified)

What is the estimated total crew to have competed in the Sydney Hobart Race?

About 60,061 sailors have competed in the Sydney Hobart Race between 1945 and 2019

What were the largest Sydney Hobart Race fleets?

Largest fleets: 371 starters in the 50th race in 1994 (309 finished); 154 starters in 1987 (146 finished); 179 starters in 1985 (145 finished); 151 starters in 1984 (46 finished); 173 started in 1983 (128 finished); 159 started in 1981 (143 finished); 147 started in 1979 (142 finished); 157 started in 2019 (154 finished)

What were the largest Sydney Hobart Race fleets post 2000?

116 in 2004 (59 finished); 117 in 2014 (103 finished); 157 in 2019 (154 finished)

What was the Smallest Sydney Hobart Race fleet?

Nine starters in the inaugural Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in 1945

What was the largest number of international entries in the Sydney Hobart Race?

In 2015 and 2017 there were 27, including the 12 Clipper yachts (11 in 2017). In the record entry of 371 yachts in the 50th in 1994, there were 24 internationals

Who was the first winner of the Sydney Hobart Race?

Rani, Captain John Illingworth RN (UK). Design: Barber 35’ cutter. Line and handicap winner

What was the 2019 Sydney Hobart Race fleet size?

157 starters, 154 finishers (3 retirements)

Who was the 2019 Sydney Hobart Race winner?

IRC Overall: Ichi Ban, a TP52 owned by Matt Allen, NSW. Last year’s line honours winner: Comanche, Verdier Yacht Design and VPLP (FRA) owned by Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant, in 1 day 18 hours, 30 minutes, 24 seconds. Just 1hour 58min 32secs separated the five super maxis at the finish

What is the Sydney Hobart Race record?

1 day 9 hours 15 minutes and 24 seconds, set in 2017 by LDV Comanche after Wild Oats XI was penalised one hour in port/starboard incident for a finish time of 1d 9h 48m 50s

Who is the oldest ever skipper to compete in the Sydney Hobart Race?

The oldest ever sailor was Syd Fischer (88 years, 2015).

Who are the youngest ever sailors to compete in the Sydney Hobart Race?

As a baby, Raud O'Brien did his first of some six Sydney Hobarts on his parent's Wraith of Odin (sic). As a veteran at three, Raud broke his arm when he fell off the companionway steps whilst feeding biscuits to the crew on watch Sophie Tasker sailed the 1978 race as a four-year-old on her father’s yacht Siska, which was not an official starter due to not meeting requirements of the CYCA. Sophie raced to Hobart in 1979, 1982 and 1983.

Quite a number of teenage boys and girls have sailed with their fathers and mothers, including Tasmanian Ken Gourlay’s 14-year-old son who sailed on Kismet in 1957. A 12-year-old boy, Travis Foley, sailed in the fatal 1998 race aboard Aspect Computing, which won PHS overall.

In 1978, the Brooker family sailed aboard their yacht Touchwood – parents Doug and Val and their children, Peter (13), Jacqueline (10), Kathryne (8) and Donald (6). Since 1999, the CYCA has set an age limit of 18 for competitors

Who was the first woman to compete in the Sydney Hobart Race?

Jane (‘Jenny’) Tate, from Hobart, sailed with her husband Horrie aboard Active in the 1946 Race, as did Dagmar O’Brien with her husband, Dr Brian (‘Mick’) O’Brien aboard Connella. Unfortunately, Connella was forced to retire in Bass Strait, but Active made it to the finish. The Jane Tate Memorial Trophy is presented each year to the first female skipper to finish the race

What is the oldest yacht to compete in the Sydney Hobart Race?

In 2019, Bill Barry-Cotter brought Katwinchar, built in 1904, back to the start line. She had competed with a previous owner in 1951. It is believed she is the oldest yacht to compete. According to CYCA life member and historian Alan Campbell, more than 31 yachts built before 1938 have competed in the race, including line honours winners Morna/Kurrewa IV (the same boat, renamed) and Astor, which were built in the 1920s.