Peter Dean will never forget the last moment he shared with his father John; it was dockside, just before John sailed off on Winston Churchill to start the 1998 Sydney Hobart Race.

Tragically, John was to never return, being one of six people who died at sea in the race.

“I was to do the Hobart with him in 99’, the next year,” recalled Peter, then 15. “He took me on board, showed me round and pointed to where I would be, what I would be doing.”

Fast forward 25 years since that tragic race to today and the start of the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race …

For Peter, his elder brother Nathan and their mother Penny, John Dean will be heavily on their minds, as he will be on those of so many in the Sydney Hobart community and beyond.

Peter and Nathan, who is two years older, will both sail in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) 628 nautical mile race on the maxi Andoo Comanche which won Line Honours last year.

This will be Peter’s third start in the race, whereas, for Nathan, it will be number two. Both brothers sailed on Andoo Comanche last year, skippered by Peter’s childhood ‘best mate’ John Winning Jnr, whose father John was also a good friend of their father.

When Peter made his Sydney Hobart debut in 2018 on the 20th anniversary of his father’s death, it was Winning Jnr who was instrumental in helping him get back onto a boat for the first time since the tragedy. Winning Jnr skippered Matt Allen’s Carkeek 60, Ichi Ban, renamed Winning Appliances and raced to fourth place overall.

2023 NSGCYR | Andrea Francolini/CYCA
This year will be extra special. “We both know it’s the 25th anniversary of Dad’s death. It’s always in the back of my mind,” Peter said. “We’re fortunate to be doing it now and going through the same water as where Dad was. It makes Nathan and I feel closer to him.”

Peter says the impact of his father’s death was huge. “I went into a dark patch,” he says.

What also helped drag Peter out of that hole was Jessica Watson’s solo around the world sail at the age of 16. Watson, a past Young Australian of the Year, will also sail in this year’s Sydney Hobart on Jack Kliner’s S&S 34 Azzurro.

“Watching Jessica do what she did was amazing. It was really exciting and helped me get back into sailing.”

Of course, the biggest inspiration for Peter and Nathan has always been their parents.

Peter recalls how his father always supported him sailing; from his days sailing at the Vaucluse Amateur 12ft Sailing Club and onwards.

“From when I was a seven-year-old, Dad would always be helping me rig the boat,” he said.

Peter laughs when he recalls his father’s impromptu debut in the Sydney Hobart in 1978.

That year, John jumped on board Apollo at the last minute without his wife Penny knowing. Apollo had passed South Head when he telephoned in to let her know.

“He was not in the good books when he got back,” laughs Peter.

As for their mother, Peter says that she understandably gets nervous before they sail in the 628 nautical mile race. “She always wants to know the weather, whereas I don’t,” Peter said.

Peter says Penny understands the significance of this year’s race, being the 25th anniversary of the death of her husband and plans to be in Hobart for the arrival of Andoo Comanche.

“It’s great … for us as a family and also as a crew.”

With the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race start two days away, uncertainty remains for crews over the expected conditions – except that a long, wet and cold journey is in store.

The NSW Bureau of Meteorology [BOM] updated forecast on Sunday predicted variable winds, waves and weather conditions, with rain, thunderstorms and low visibility likely.

The BOM update was presented at a compulsory race briefing for all crews at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, organisers of the 628 nautical mile event.

As Afloat reported previously, an Irish boat and a number of top Irish crews are competing in the race.

As David Witt, skipper of the Hong Kong maxi, SHK Scallywag (on which Cork's Grattan Roberts Junior is sailing), said of the forecast, especially after passing Eden: “Take another set of thermals. It will be cold.”

Gabrielle Woodhouse, the BOM’s senior meteorologist, said conditions for the 1 pm race starting on Tuesday should be sunny with winds likely to be east to southeasterly at a light 5 knots.

Later in the afternoon, the wind could turn to the north-east, increasing to 15 knots, with the featured sunshine of race start in Sydney Harbour possibly giving way to thunderstorms.

However, as the race heads south to and beyond Eden, winds could be east to south-east at 15-25 knots with waves increasing from 1.5 metres to 2 to 3 metres.

From there, the fleet can expect to hit a trough and low pressure system. This will make for a tactically challenging race as boats follow either the current, or head out east for the wind.

David Witt speaks at the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race Line Honour Contenders Conference Photo:  Andrea Francolini

So believes Witt, whose SHK Scallywag is one of four maxis in the 628 nautical mile race and a favourite for Line Honours with Andoo Comanche, LawConnect and Wild Thing 100.

“I think it'll probably be decided when someone might fall off the perch in the first three or four hours. That could be a big decision early,” said Witt.

“We're just pretty happy that we got one Juan Vila with us [one of the navigators]. The best in the world doesn't come cheap, but we've invested in the right areas with this forecast.”

John Winning Jr, skipper of the defending Line Honours champion, Andoo Comanche, agreed the race is poised to become a battle of the brains trusts.

Winning has nothing but praise for his navigator, Justin Shaffer’s ability. “I've said in previous years that I think Justin is the most underrated navigator on the planet,” he said.

“For us, it's around trusting each person's role on the boat, and we back our boat in any conditions to win the race.

“Obviously, we’d like the conditions to get us to get there as fast as possible because, as a skiff sailor, I don't want to spend too much time at sea.

“Even if we’re out there for 48-plus hours, we think our boat is fast in all conditions.”

Tony Mutter of LawConnect and John Winning Jr of Andoo Comanche at the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race Line Honour Contenders Conference Photo: Andrea Francolini

Tony Mutter, Sailing Master on Christian Beck’s LawConnect was reticent to come to any conclusion about the forecast.

“It's way too early because the biggest problem I have with the low is that it still hasn't really formed properly,” he said.

Mutter said he was presently looking at two options. Either to go “down the current or whether we go east to try and sail around the outside and into the pressure.”

Asked his opinion, Carl Crafoord, from Grant Wharington’s new Wild Thing 100, is leaning towards the option of heading offshore.

“Getting offshore away from the coast, and when possible thunderstorms, will be the answer,” he said.

Although the only totally Irish entry in Tuesday's Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2023 is the Kinsale YC duo of Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt with the chartered Sun Fast 3300 Cinnamon Girl-Eden Capital, further Irish representation has emerged at the top end of the fleet, even though - as the reality of starting gets nearer - the number cleared to race has now been whittled down to 113 boats from an original 120.

Of these, only ten are from overseas with just three from Europe, the other two in addition to Cinnamon being the exuberant Eric de Turckheim from France with the 54ft NYMD Teasing Machine, and Chris Opielok of Germany with the JPK 10.80 Rockall. There's a name that will ring a bell, as an earlier Rockall was the Corby 36 which was originally Roy Dickson's Howth-based Rosie.

CARO RACES FOR NEW ZEALAND

Of course, the owner of hot favourite Caro, the Botin 52 where Gordon Maguire is on the strength, is Max Klinck from Switzerland. But as Caro is registered under a Cayman Islands sail number, it puts her into a different category, and in fact she sails as a New Zealand entry - one of only three Kiwi participants - as she was built in NZ by Mark Turner.

Grattan Roberts Jnr of the Royal Cork is racing to Hobart on the 100ft Scallywag, one of the favourites for line honours

As briefly mentioned in the preview in Sailing on Saturday, Grattan Roberts Jnr of Royal Cork YC is with a numerous cast, crewing Seng Huang Lee's Hong Kong-registered Dovell 100 SHK Scallywag. A 2014 boat which has been much modified through the recent "winter" months in Australia, Scallywag is now fancied for line honours as she sallies forth with an improved hull and a larger rig.

BYRNE AND LANGMAN ON MONEYPENNY

The irrepressible Sean Langman, having done the Fastnet Race in July this year with Gordon Maguire on the up-graded vintage gaffer Maluka, is bringing another of his boats out of the stable with the Reichel-Pugh 69 Moneypenny. And at the sharp end is Will Byrne of the National Yacht Club, now one of top-level international offshore racing's elite group of bowmen. With south to southwest winds currently forecast for the start, he may well be busy in Sydney Harbour before the fleet settle down to slug to windward bound for Hobart, but even then with Moneypenny's multi-choice foresail arrangements, the bowman's job is no sinecure.

With this foretriangle arrangement, Moneypenny's bowman Will Byrne of the National YC is almost always busy

Sam Haynes dismisses the notion that there is a target on his back as the owner/skipper of the defending overall Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race champion boat Celestial.

Asked on Wednesday as he sat among a panel of contenders for this year’s race that starts at 1pm Tuesday - St. Stephen's Day – he instead pointed to his right, at the Tattersall Cup.

“The target is there … we’ve got a beautiful trophy,” Haynes said at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney today.

“We’ve got the Rolex watch (awarded to both the overall and line honours winner each year). There's the honour of winning the race … that is the target.

“We're all trying for the same thing. I don't think anyone's going to set up their boat specifically to try and challenge my boat.

“We all know where boats have their strengths and weaknesses. And we all work on trying to improve the weaknesses and maintain strengths at the same time.”

Sam Haynes of Celestial Photo: Andrea Francolini

The Tattersall Cup is one of the most coveted trophies in the world of ocean racing. Every skipper in the Sydney Hobart fleet dreams of holding it.

Celestial, a TP52, is one of a number of previous overall winners in this year’s race. Others include Alive, Bumblebee V, Love & War and the Farr 43 Wild Oats.

In a race riddled with so much uncertainty, pinpointing an outright favourite for the overall win is fraught with risk. No skipper will embrace the title as favourite.

That is certainly the case this year, with the long range weather forecast more uncertain than usual. This year’s 628 nautical mile race could see any number of boats win.

Celestial is a real contender: “We have had a lot of expectation from the last two years. To back that up is a massive challenge,” Haynes admitted.

“Since last year we have made some modifications to the rigging that could help in upwind conditions, but we do prefer hard downwind running,” he said.

One of Celestial’s big challengers is the Botin 52, Caro. It is a world class offshore campaigner that placed third to Celestial last year in its Sydney Hobart debut.

Skippered by Max Klink, Caro has won the Rolex Fastnet Race this year. On the Sydney Hobart, he said, “Maybe the forecast will show a bit more of a mix. That might be better for us.”

Hoping for tougher conditions is Anthony Johnston, owner of the Reichel/Pugh 72 URM Group, which has raced superbly this season.

“If it’s light conditions, it will favour the smaller boats and TP52s, but if it’s heavy, we will be in a very good position [to contend for the win] ,” Johnston said.

Owner and skipper of Atomic Blonde, Simon Torvaldsen Photo: Andrea Francolini

Given the right conditions, the small boats could also be in with a chance of challenging.

Simon Torvaldsen, owner/skipper of the newly built JPK 11.80, Atomic Blonde, said limited time on the water since its October launch may be its biggest threat.

“Under the right circumstances, if all goes well, it's in with a chance,” Torvaldsen said. “But I have to admit … we just cannot be as well prepared as the guys who've been spending the last year or two tuning and testing their boats.”

Marc Michel, owner of the Kiwi two-handed Dehler 30OD, Niksen, said their boat is as well prepared as it can be. He and co-skipper, Logan Fraser, sailed it from New Zealand to Sydney for the race.

Launched two years ago and now with 5,0000 sea miles of racing to its record, Niksen also sailed in the CYCA’s recent Cabbage Tree Island Race.

Michel, as with most skippers, said the priority will be to finish first in the Two-Handed division and then see how they place overall in that division before assessing their overall prospects in the open fleet.

“We have to focus first on the two-handed division. For anyone who finishes, let alone place, that is an enormous achievement,” Michel said.

A diverse fleet, including multiple former winners and some key Irish offshore interests, will take on the 628 nautical mile Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on St. Stehpen's Day.

One hundred and thirteen boats are entered for the 78th running of Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) famous race, which begins on Sydney Harbour at 1 PM on Tuesday, 26 December.

Sydney-Hobart winners 2022 - Callaghan, Henry, Haynes, Winning Jr., Williams, Hall gather behind the Rolex Sydney Hobart trophies Photo: Andrea Francolini

There are ten international entrants: from New Zealand (Allegresse, Caro, with Dun Laoghaire's Cian Guilfoyle on the crew, and Niksen), Hong Kong (Antipodes and SHK Scallywag), New Caledonia (Eye Candy), USA (Lenny), France (Teasing Machine), Germany (Rockall 8), and Ireland (Cinnamon Girl).

Dublin Bay's Cian Guilfoyle is on the crew of Caro again for this year's Sydney Hobart Race

Australia is represented across all six states, with New South Wales home to 60 entries, while Queensland fields 18, Victoria 15, Tasmania 7, Western Australia 2, and South Australia 1.

Dublin Bay Fastnet Race winner Guilfoyle is back aboard the Botin 52 Caro again this year for the Sydney-Hobart and is 'looking to best last year's result' he told Afloat, a reference to Caro's third-place finish in 2022.

There is other Irish interest, too, the National Yacht Club's Will Byrne, who just completed the Middle Sea Race on Conor Doyle's XP50 from Kinsale, is racing on Sean Langman's Reichel Pugh 69, Moneypenny. Denis Power of RStGYC is racing the 2023 Sydney-Hobart aboard the Radford/McIntyre 55 Arctos and Kinsale's Steph Lyons in action at the sharp end of the Cookson 12, Calibre 12.

Four 100-foot maxis will likely vie for Line Honours this year – four-time winner Andoo Comanche, which took Line Honours in 2022 and holds the race record of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes, and 24 seconds as LDV Comanche for Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant (2017), Law Connect, which placed second last year and won the John H Illingworth Challenge Cup as first across the line back in 2016 as Perpetual LOYAL, SHK Scallywag, and Wild Thing 100, the recently modified Botin 80 Stefan Racing.

On his competition, Andoo Comanche skipper John Winning Jr. said, “Scallywag [didn’t race last year] is an unknown quantity, but I believe Witty [David Witt] has the boat in the best shape ever. Law Connect broke the record in 2016 [as Perpetual LOYAL], so they have a phenomenal boat.”

“Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing is another unknown. Wharo is working around the clock to get the boat finished. He is a determined man, so I’m sure he will have the boat ready to go.”

Sam Haynes and the crew of his TP52 Celestial are back to defend the coveted Tattersall Cup awarded in 2022 as the Overall winner under IRC on corrected time.

On whether he can win the race again or not, Haynes said “TP52s seem to fit the race, then you need skilled sailors with the personalities to match. You need confidence too, and I’m going to put my best foot forward”.

The competition for the major prize will be hotly contested this year with eight mini maxis and nine TP52s and other 52-foot racers as well as a range of smaller boats across all divisions, including two-handed, that could be up for the challenge if conditions favour them.

Five other past Overall winners are racing this year:

• Alive (2018)
• Bumblebee V (2001)
• Love & War (1974, 1978, 2006), one of only three yachts to have won Overall on three separate occasions (Freya, Love & War, and Ichi Ban)
• Christina, winner of the 1946 Sydney Hobart
• Wild Oats/Wild Rose, won in 1993 and 2014 respectively

Celestial - the winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2022 Photo: Andrea Francolini

Twenty Two-Handed entries are competing. Rupert Henry returns as the 2022 Two-Handed Division winner with his Lombard 34 Mistral, and Ireland's Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt, who have been cutting a successful swathe through Irish offshore racing for more than two years now, are also making a tilt at the big Australian title.

Henry describes sailing Hobart two-handedly, “We only manage around 4 hours max of sleep each. We know when each other needs to crash, so we do it then.”

“I don’t prefer two-handed sailing, but I’m just enjoying trying to reach my full potential with just two people racing it.”

Jules Hall, who won the inaugural Two-Handed Division in 2021 with Jan Scholten on Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth, will be campaigning the J/99 fully-crewed this year and has put together a strong team comprised of CYCA’s Youth Sailing Academy sailors – a mix of both experienced and first-timers.

Once again, there will be a large number of women sailors competing.

Lisa Callaghan, who owns the Sydney 38 Mondo with Stephen Teudt, returns to the race in 2023 with unfinished business after retiring Mondo last year with a broken gooseneck.

Of the 113 entrants, seven were only built this year, and 33 were constructed before 2000. The oldest entrant is Ena Ladd’s Christina, built in 1932. She is returning after 77 years, having done just the one race in 1946.

One of the older boats, Robert Williams’ 1960-built Sylph VI, makes a return to the Sydney Hobart for the first time in 51 years after having competed five times back in the 1960s and early ‘70s.

From the four 100-foot maxis through to the three 30-footers - Currawong, Niksen and Gun Runner, the fleet will take the line on Boxing Day to add another chapter to the race’s rich history. They will join the 6,407 boats that have competed since 1945 when nine boats took on the challenge to race to Hobart from Sydney Harbour.

Williams, with his cat Oli, on Sylph VI Photo" Andrea Francolini

CYCA Commodore, Arthur Lane, took the opportunity to thank Rolex, Race Finishing Partner the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and the event’s many partners for their continued support.

Internationally, the race will be available through YouTube on CYCATV. For the full list of entries click here 

Entries for the 78th annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race have closed, and the lineup of 120 boats is one of the most diverse in years.

The 628 nautical mile race, set to start on St. Stephen's Day, December 26th, on Sydney Harbour, has attracted entries from around the world, including ten international teams from New Zealand, Hong Kong, New Caledonia, the United States, France, Germany, and Ireland.

As Afloat reported previously, Kinsale duo Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt who have been such a potent force double-handed force in Irish offshore races are among the line-up.

The Australian contingent is made up of 110 boats hailing from six states, with New South Wales accounting for the majority of entries with 64, followed by Queensland with 20, Victoria with 16, Tasmania with 7, South Australia with 1, and Western Australia with 2.

The boats range in size from the smallest, two diminutive 30-foot two-handed entries, to the four maxi 100-footers: Andoo Comanche, Law Connect, SHK Scallywag, and Wild Thing 100 (formerly the Botin 80 Stefan Racing). The John H Illingworth Challenge Cup for Line Honours victory will be hotly contested by these larger boats who have all featured in recent years.

The oldest boat in the fleet is Ena Ladd’s Colin Archer-designed double-ender Christina, built in 1932. Meanwhile, four boats were built in the 1970s: the ubiquitous Victorian entry Bacardi, first all-female two-handed entrant in 2022, Currawong, three-time Overall winner Love & War, and Queensland’s Son of a Son. A further 27 were launched in the last century.

21 boats will be competing two-handed, making up 17.5% of the fleet. This number is testament to the growing interest and standard of competition in the division across Australia and around the world.

The Tattersall Cup, one of the most prestigious prizes in sailing, will be awarded to the winner of the IRC division, with 96 boats competing. 24 boats will be competing under PHS Handicap.

With only two more races scheduled in the 2023/24 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore and the 2023 Australian Maxi Championship (1-5 December) ahead of Boxing Day, it will be a busy two months of training and fine-tuning of boats and crews to prepare for what is traditionally one of the most challenging yacht races in the world.

“The 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart promises to deliver another enthralling spectacle for both sailing aficionados and the general public alike. As one of the most watched sports over the Australian summer, and with worldwide interest and coverage of the race continuing to grow each year through the support of media and broadcast partners, the race is truly one of the highlights of the international sailing calendar,” said CYCA Commodore Arthur Lane.

View the full fleet here

The Sun Fast 3300 Cinnamon Girl from Kinsale, sailed two-handed by Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt, has been cutting a successful swathe through Irish offshore racing for more than two years now. But in December, they'll be making the top-level scene on the other side of the world in the annual Sydney-Hobart race. Lee Condell, originally of Limerick but now Australian agent for several boat ranges, notably including Jeanneau and particularly the Sun Fast performance marque, has arranged the charter of a Sun Fast 3300, but she'll be setting key Cinnamon Girl sails, and using her trademark "extra-large bowsprit".

Taking the sails and bowsprit is only the half of it, for the successful duo sailors both have important families at home, so the word is that the Kinsale contingent flying down under will include a total of eight McCarthy and Hunt children...

Meanwhile, we hear whispers of other possible Irish involvement in the forthcoming end-of-year Sydney-Hobart major and have featured Trevor Smyth - formerly of Clontarf - who has already notched the win in the new Sydney-Auckland Race with Mick Martin on the TP52 Frantic. Trev will be right there again on Frantic in the race to Hobart.

If your participation in the race has been confirmed, please let us know at Afloat.ie, as we've found that Irish interest in this "Twixtmas Classic" is always at a very high level in the depths of winter.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) has opened entries for eligible yachts for the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The 78th edition of the historic 628 nautical mile classic will start on Sydney Harbour at 1 pm on Tuesday, 26 December 2023.

An international and highly competitive fleet is expected to participate this year following the success of what has been described as a 'Classic Hobart' in 2022, which saw 109 entrants on the starting line - the first race not heavily impacted by border restrictions since the 75th Anniversary race in 2019.

A tightly contested upwind start on Sydney Harbour was followed by a fast run down the NSW coastline before the main fleet experienced challenging conditions and a strong breeze as they approached Hobart.

Sam Haynes' TP52 Celestial was the Overall Winner of the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart. John Winning Jr's 100ft maxi Andoo Comanche took Line Honours in a time of 1 day, 11 hours, 56 minutes. Both are expected to defend their titles in 2023.

Eight international boats from across the globe competed in 2022, including Caro, (winner of the 2022 Australian Championships and Division 1 at Les Voiles de St Barthes), Warrior Won, (Winner 2022 RORC Caribbean 600), and Sunrise, (Winner of the 2022 Rolex Fastnet Race and 2nd in the Rolex Middle Sea Race).

Nineteen boats competed as two-handed entries with Ruper Henry's Lombard 34 Mistral taking IRC honours.

Arthur Lane, Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, said: "We expect a strong fleet to contest the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart with the prospect of our many local racing teams from all states of Australia being joined by a world-class group of international entrants. Overseas teams have already shown early interest.

"The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia once again extends its warm appreciation to Rolex for its ongoing support of the Race and sailing globally as well as to our many valued race partners including our good friends at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania as Race Finishing Partner."

Entries for the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart close at 1700hrs on Friday, 27 October 2023.

If you’re looking for somebody Irish on the biggest fastest boat racing to Hobart from Monday’s traditional start in Sydney Harbour, then you got it – the hugely experienced big boat racer Justin Slattery of Wexford and Cork is on the strength aboard the course record holder, super-maxi Adoo Comanche.

Yet if you’re looking for someone at the most extreme other end of the size scale, someone who moreover is putting in competition in the twenty-one boats two-handed division that is now admitted to the all-important Tattersalls Cup for Best Corrected Time, then you’ve got that too. Lee Condell of Limerick is at the core of the duo campaigning the Sun Fast 3300 Sun Fast Racing which – with her several sister-ships – is in the smallest-size cohort in the 110-strong fleet.

The biggest ones. The four 100ft Super Maxis which will be racing to Hobart include (left) the continuously-modified Wild Oats which has taken line honours nine times and held the record too, and (second right) Andoo Comanche, the current record holder, whose crew includes Justin Slattery of Wexford and Kinsale

The smallest ones. Lee Condell of Limerick (right) and Lincoln Dews are in the two-handed division in the smallest boat type in the fleet, the Sun Fast 33 Sun Fast Racing

But though it looks at the moment as though the expected northerlies in the early stages may so favour the four super-maxis that they carry fair winds all the way to the finish and an eventual results dominance, any seasoned Hobart Race follower knows that regardless of how they’re doing as they close into the conclusion of the 628-mile race along the Tasmanian coast, the final flukey miles to the in-harbour finish line up the Derwent River are often so dependent on the time of day and the state of the summertime sea breeze that it all can become a bit of a lottery.

PATCHES OF CONNEMARA IN, THEN PATCHES OUT

So any sensible betting person will want to spread their choices. Yet even here if you want to limit that exercise to boats with a distinct Irish flavour, the range is comprehensive. For instance, there’s a feeling that the TP52s have now become so competitive among themselves that they are producing a level of performance which can overcome the simple size advantage of the bigger boats.

And at mid-week it looked as though we’d a third boat of Irish interest in this elite class, when a TP52 called Maritimo departed Coff’s Harbour on the Gold Coats with considerable fanfare to head south to Sydney and the start. For in times past Maritimo was one of Eamonn Conneely’s two all-conquering Patches, both of which were the hyper-hot TP52s of their day, and both named for the tiny townland in Connemara where we find the ancestral homes of this branch of the Conneely family.

But a Southerly Buster was blowing bang on the nose for the quick hop to Sydney, and Maritimo/Patches chances of Hobart success were knocked out by sustaining a spot of structural damage sufficiently serious to have her withdraw from the big one on Monday. Stuff happens. It sure does. And it was a timely reminder that underneath the sunny skies, the Tasman Sea can quickly turn dark and rough.

However, we still have at least two top-level Irish-linked TP52s to step into the breach, starting with Chris Sheehan’s Warrior Won spearheading the US challenge, having already topped the RORC Caribbean 600 in February and the CCA Centenary Year Bermuda Race in June.

Chris Sheehan’s Warrior Won had been the most successful TP52 in North America in the 2022 season, and her crew in the Hobart Race will include the Glandore-linked Dylan Vogel, and Shane Diviney of Howth

Apart from the owner/skipper’s clearly-evident Irish descent, his crew includes international regular Shane Diviney of Howth. And since last weekend’s preliminary piece, we’ve heard from the depths of West Cork that Warrior’s hyper-talented lineup also has Transpac Race, Caribbean 600 Race and Bermuda Race winner Dylan Vogel in the crew.

He’s the son of US sailing rockstar Scott Vogel (think America’s Cup bowman) and ace America’s Cup back-up navigator Dory Street, who is the daughter of international sailing legend Don Street of Glandore. So in Glandore’s Twixtmas-enlarged population of sailors, there’s no doubt which boat they’ll be cheering on her way next week.

Meanwhile in Dun Laoghaire there’s a quiet air of confidence, as their main man in the Hobart Race is Cian Guilfoyle who is on Caro, the very new Botin 52 which is the highly-fancied fresher of the TP52 division and the fleet generally.

Owned and skippered by Max Klink of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland, and therefore carrying all that intense Kiwi-Aussie rivalry with her, Caro is a secret hidden in plain sight, for she swept the board in the TP 52s in Hamilton Island Week back in August. So the fact that Dun Laoghaire’s proven offshore performer Cian Guilfoyle has been recruited to do his first Sydney-Hobart Race aboard Caro speaks volumes for the high regard in which he is held.

As clean as a whistle…..the much-fancied Botin 52 Caro – with Dun Laoghaire’s Cian Guilfoyle in her crew – was built in 2021 in New Zealand by a specialist team led by Mark Turner

TP52 IS A SAILOR’S BOAT

The TP52s’ enduring popularity may stem largely from the fact that the boat’s concept was developed by active sailors at the top level every bit as much as it came out of various designers’ computers. There are times when designers can stray into an ivory tower frame of mind, and even the enthusiastic input from the test sailors in the biggest boat-building companies can get lost - or at least watered down - in the jungle of corporate communication. But if you’ve a boat of which the really good sailors approve and regard as their own, it’s something special and its survival chances as a class and a concept are that much higher.

The same thing broadly happened with the creation of the Volvo 70 Class. This was a sailors-inspired boat first, and an organisers and promoters’ boat second. So though the organizer and promoters may well have slipped from the scene for some time now, a good Volvo 70 will still be soldiering on for many years yet as a sound proposition for serious competition. And very good value too, albeit at a rather stratospheric notion of what constitutes “good value”.

You may have to spend quite long periods with the boat well heeled, but as shown here by Willow, the Volvo 70 will be going remarkably fast to windward

VOLVO 70 WILLOW IS “THE BALLIVOR BARGAIN’

Thus in noting that Jim Cooney of Ballivor in County Meath has downsized from the 100ft Comanche - with which he set the existing Sydney-Hobart Course Record in partnership with Samantha Grant - the fact that they down-sized to the Volvo 70 Willow (ex Ericsson 3, ex-Groupama) can reasonably be reckoned to be “The Ballivor Bargain”, as top level Volvo 70s are awesome performers which can easily be snapping at the heels of any hundred footer which so much as sneezes.

Thus Willow may well wiggle her way into keeping within this favourable northerly breeze which is expected to favour the super-maxis, and though in recent years Comanche is the fastest if the breeze is present, the much-modified Wild Oats can pull it out of the hat in lighter conditions - and with the legendary Stan Honey of California as her navigator, she’s as well-placed as possible to take any advantage going.

 

Legendary navigator Stan Honey with owner Samdy Oatley aboard the ever-young Wild Oats

Nevertheless at the middle and lower ends of the fleet, the possibility of a trough or two with less favourable southeasterly or even southerly winds before the finish becomes more likely, and just how far up the fleet this disadvantaged prospect extends is something which will only be discovered during the race. 

LIMERICK’S CLASS WIN

But there are so many factors involved, with the sea currents and volatile winds which can persist on this classic course, that occasionally an overall winner can suddenly come centre stage out of nowhere, so to speak. And of course with a fleet of this size, the class placings assume extra significance, something of which we were emphatically reminded when Ger O’Rourke of Limerick made his international debut in 2005 with his then-new Cookson 50 Chieftain, winning his Sydney-Hobart class despite breaking a spinnaker pole, and placing fourth overall when the podium was dominated by Maxis.

Ger O’Rourke of Limerick’s Cookson 50 Chieftain won her class in the 2005 Sydney-Hobart Race and placed fourth overall, and then went on to place second in the 2007 Transatlantic Race, and first overall in the 2007 Fastet Race. Subsequently, as Adrian Lee’s Lee Overlay Partners (Royal St George YC), she was overall winner of the first RORC Caribbean 600 in 2009

With the predicted wind patterns the way they are at the moment, Tom Kneen’s 2021 Fastnet Race overall winner, the JPK 11.80 Sunrise, is not currently favoured for the overall podium position, but you never know. And she certainly has to be a hot contender in her class, IRC-3, even if this is the first race to Hobart for the owner-skipper and many of his crew, as their lack of Hobart notches is offset by tactician and former race winner Adrienne Cahalane - who is Offaly-born - as this is her 30th time down he 628-mile course, though she has seldom done it in a boat which manages world-class performance allied to on-board comfort in the style of a JPK 1180.

“World class performance allied to on-board comfort” – Tom Kneen’s all-conquering JPK1180 Sunrise

MONEYPENNY THE DARK HORSE

Finally in the lineup of special Irish interest, we have the dark horse, Sean Langman’s Reichel/Pugh 69 Moneypenny. She started as an American-built RP 65, but has acquired a new lease of life with four feet added to the stern to make her an RP 69. And in another turnup for the books, just six weeks ago she acquired Gordon Maguire, who took his first overall win in the Sydney-Hobart Race way back in 1991. But even with five Hobart bullets now in his CV, the former Howth sailor seems as keen as ever, and as he has joined an already talent-laden crew on Moneypenny, this is a boat to watch regardless of how the conditions may pan out to suit certain boat sizes.

If you’re making a late night of it on Christmas Day, the live start sequence in Sydney Harbour will be coming up in the small hours of Monday, and here’s the Race Tracker: https://rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker/

The dark horse. With four feet added to her stern, and Gordon Maguire added to her crew, Sean Langman’s RP69 Moneypenny is an intriguing betting proposition for the Sydney-Hobart Race 2022

Thomas Cheney is pinching himself that he and the crew on the JPK 11.80 yacht, Sunrise, are in Australia and all but ready to sail in their first Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

For the British navigator, of the Royal Ocean Racing Club entry, the prospect of being in the fleet for the Rolex Sydney Hobart, which starts at 1 pm on Monday 26 December, almost came by chance.

"Last year, my wife, who sails, and I were up at two in the morning having Christmas in Scotland, watching the start like we have done most years. It’s weird being here," said Cheney today at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), organiser of the race.

"It was almost a joke. We thought, 'Oh … the only race over 600 [nautical mile race] we haven't really done is the Rolex Sydney Hobart. Wouldn't it be cool if we could go do that?’

"Then somehow, a few things came together, and we made it happen, and here we are (his wife is on the crew). So, it's bit of a dream."

The crew does not know their opposition in division well but has one major source of local intelligence – Australian Adrienne Cahalan, with Irish roots, is one of the world’s leading navigators.

Most of the crew have not raced in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, including Cheney; while Cahalan brings with her the experience of 29 participations in the race, a record for women sailors.

The Thomas Kneen-owned Sunrise is a proven ocean racer internationally. This is its first trip Down Under, but it won the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race, placed second in the Rolex Middle Sea Race and claimed a divisional win the RORC Caribbean. While unsuited for the light to medium northerly winds forecast for the first day, Cheney is hoping that may change.

"Probably our weakness is medium air downwind which we may see a little of on the first day, but certainly when it gets windier, we are pretty comfortable," he said.

Eight international entries

Sunrise is one of eight international entries in the fleet that numbered 109 boats today.

Agostin Sipos is in the first all-Hungarian crew in the race on the Reichel/Pugh designed Marten 68, Cassiopeia 68, that is registered with the Almadi Yacht Club, Hungary.

Don’t be fooled by the perception of its look and onboard facilities. It has three guest cabins, the owner’s cabin, three bathrooms and a sizeable galley. However, it is also a fast yacht; and the Rolex Sydney Hobart is just a part of a world circumnavigation that has included the 2018 Thousand Mile race, 2019 Middle Sea Race, 2020 ARC and the 2020 Atlantic Rally.

"That [journey in between] gives us a good opportunity to build a team, which is made up of family and friends," Sipos said.

Malo Leseigneur, whose father Thierry is the owner/skipper of the New Caledonian entry, Eye Candy, a Sydney 38, is one of five of the design in the fleet and one of two from New Caledonia. Both are making their debut in the race.

"We have a good fleet to race against. That’s going to be our race. We don't necessarily know the other boats. We know one of the boats," said Leseigneur today, referring to the other New Caledonian boat, Poulpito.

For Peter and Axel Baumgartner, from the German crew on the Grand Soleil 45, Orione, this is their first Rolex Sydney Hobart too.

"Hobart has a big reputation in the world," said Peter Baumgartner today.

"The last five years, we took it step by step, and since Monday, we have the green spot [of approval]. It dawned on me that we are going to the starting line now."

German Max Klink, who has sailed in five Sydney Hobarts and is skipper of the TP52 Caro, firmly dismissed the notion that the boat is favourite to win overall.

"I do not think we are the favourite," Klink said today. "It's a very strong fleet of 52s … Maybe on the 26th, in the evening, we will know, a little bit more if we are the favourites or not."