Popular searches

Popular pages.

Skipper Captain John Illingworth (centre standing in cap) with the crew of Rani, the winner of the first Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, 1.45am, 2 January 1946. ANMM Collection 00048228_003, Gift from Alison Richmond

75 years of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

This year marks the 75th sailing of the legendary Sydney to Hobart yacht race. After its relatively relaxed beginnings on Boxing Day 1945 – just months after the end of World War II – the race has evolved into a highlight of the ocean racing calendar. Known as one of the world’s toughest blue-water events, it attracts sailors and yachts from around the globe. For some it’s a social or sporting event, for others a fierce competitive challenge. For many, it is a bucket-list aspiration.

This year 170 boats will gather: greyhounds, bare-bones super-maxis and veteran timber cruising craft among them. It is this variety of yachts, sailors and motivations, combined with the variability of the weather and waters over the 1,160-kilometre route, which gives the race its personality – equal parts old sea dog, sprinter, sports star and supermodel.

Last year Wild Oats XI took line honours for the ninth time with the extraordinary Mark Richards at the helm, and Alive became the first Tasmanian boat in 39 years to claim the title of overall winner on handicap. The current race record was set in 2017 by LDV Comanche , at one day, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds – an unthinkable record for those who sailed in the very first race 75 years ago.

Photograph showing a yacht in the ocean with a helicopter flying past in the air

The first ‘Hobart’ sailors were friends from the newly formed Cruising Yacht Club (now the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia – CYCA), who decided on a summer cruise together to Hobart. Before they left Sydney, British yachtsman John Illingworth joined the group and proposed making it a race. The Royal Navy captain had been stationed in Sydney during the war. It was just months after the armistice and life was returning to its peace-time rhythms. The CYCA teamed up with the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania to co-manage the race and, in the interests of keeping the focus on ‘cruising’, spinnakers were not permitted. 

Nine yachts left Sydney on December 26, 1945. On 2 January 1946, Illingworth’s Rani – whose crew was mostly assembled from defence personnel – was first across the line, with a time of six days, 14 hours and 22 minutes. Peter Luke’s Wayfarer arrived after 11 days, having anchored en route at Port Arthur for roast pork and crayfish! His record stands as the slowest passage in the blue-water event. 

The race grew in the post-war years, with peaks and troughs through the decades. It has seen huge social and technological change, resulting in necessary revisions of safety standards and rules. A major turning point in its history came with the deaths of six sailors in 1998, after hurricane-force winds decimated the fleet. 

Challenging, Thrilling, Racing

To mark the 75th race, the museum has developed a program of exhibitions in and around its site, including the Tasman Light Gallery, Yots Café and our wharves, where you can see the iconic Kathleen Gillett , the ketch that sailed in the very first Hobart race. The Tasman Light Gallery is named for its central feature – a large, historic, first-order lens from the Tasman Island lighthouse, which all yachts in the Sydney to Hobart must pass on the final leg of the race to the finish line on the Derwent River.

Challenging, Thrilling, Racing is a dramatic visual essay about the history of the race, with a special focus on photography located in the Tasman Light Gallery. Also on display is a showcase containing the timber trophy presented to the race’s first winner, John Illingworth, as well as examples of early navigation equipment and memorabilia, a model of Wild Oats XI and a model reconstruction of a helicopter rescue of imperilled sailors in the 1998 storm. Tiger 75, the Royal Australian Navy’s 816 Squadron Sikorsky S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter that took part in that rescue is suspended from the ceiling of the adjacent tall gallery. The helicopter has recently been transferred from the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm Museum.

A yacht in the ocean

Works by Tasmanian photographer Richard Bennett are on display in the gallery, and they will also feature in the museum’s café, Yots, in the lead-up to the race. Bennett’s speciality is aerial photography, and in 1998 his aircraft was requisitioned for the search effort. His photographs of Stand Aside and Midnight Rambler fighting the huge seas have become two of the most compelling photographs from that tragic race.

Bennett, an ocean sailor himself, first photographed the Hobart race in 1974 and has captured every race since, acquiring a pilot licence to help in his search for the perfect shot. His yacht photographs are characterised by moody seas and the dramatic lines of Tasman Island landscapes. One of his personal favourites is the Shogun photograph of 1984.

I love everything about the Sydney to Hobart: the many moods of the sea, the sense of participation in a great adventure, the camaraderie, the tactics, sensing the proximity of the elements, the wildness … the gales, the different light and the dramatic coastline. It’s about putting all those elements together. There is an organisational challenge in being in the right location to capture the peak of the action. (I am not there often enough, according to the yachties!)  Richard Bennett

The Tasman Light Gallery also features work by Italian photographer Carlo Borlenghi and Italian-Australian, Andrea Francolini. 

Borlenghi grew up on Lake Como and developed his passion for photography while studying engineering. A non-sailor in a circle of sailing friends, he began to attend his local regatta. He travelled the world for the magazine Umo Mare Vogue , photographing the most important nautical events, and his passion grew into a career of international renown. Carlo Borlenghi is the official photographer for Rolex, the Sydney to Hobart race sponsor.

Photograph showing a storm about to occur

Borlenghi’s perspectives include close-framed, high-octane action on the water and panoramic aerial shots. All reveal delicate subtleties of light and tone, a Borlenghi signature, and capture an excitement of moment or mood. One of his photographic heroes is Henri Cartier Bresson, who promoted the pursuit of the ‘decisive moment’. 

In all these pictures the common denominator is ‘Nature’ - the incredible light, the big sea, that you don’t find anywhere in the world. Everybody knows that my favourite race is the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race because I like the strong sea, the big waves, the different scenery. You can find so many different things: a good background for the start in one of the most beautiful cities in the word [and later] the organ pipe and Tasman Island.  Carlo Borlenghi

Andrea Francolini is another non-sailing Sydney to Hobart photographer, trained in graphic design in his native Milan. He found his vocation after a fall into the water before his first regatta left him stranded on the dock taking photographs. Francolini moved to Australia nearly 20 years ago and developed his career on the water. It remains his mainstay. Today his interests are broad and his work is informed by his admiration for reportage and portrait photographers Sebastiao Salgado, Richard Avedon and Annie Leibovitz, and Australian photographer Trent Parke.

When shooting boats, no day is the same. The boats change and, on the water, will never react the same way. A splash will always be different. As for the beaches and the ocean in Australia, the size is what really gets me, and how rough the ocean can be. The light here, too, is very different to the light in Europe or other parts of the world … You have to respect the ocean at all times.  Andrea Francolini

In 2003, a portrait-sitting with sailing winemaker and businessman Bob Oatley AO BEM, led to a 14-year appointment photographing the new Oatley super-maxi Wild Oats XI – from its construction in 2005, a record of modifications, its crew and team, and above all its record-breaking run in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. At the time of print, the nine-times line honours champion is undergoing urgent repairs to enable it to contest the title for the tenth time in this, the 75th race. Good luck to all 170 entrants in this year’s historic Sydney to Hobart.

Don't miss  Challenging, Thrilling, Racing: Sydney to Hobart 75 Years , a dramatic visual essay about the history of this prestigious race on display now.

Main image: Skipper Captain John Illingworth (centre standing in cap) with the crew of Rani , the winner of the first Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, 1.45 am, 2 January 1946. ANMM Collection  00048228_003 , Gift from Alison Richmond

dainafletcher

Daina Fletcher

Daina Fletcher is a senior curator at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Andoo Comanche takes out Sydney to Hobart as supermaxi makes race history

Andoo Comanche wins the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, skipper John Winning Jnr. Picture: Chris Kidd

Australian supermaxi Andoo Comanche secured a fourth line honours victory in the gruelling Sydney-Hobart ocean race Wednesday, but fell short of setting a new course record.

The 100-foot yacht, skippered by John Winning Jnr, triumphed in a nail-biting finish in the early hours of Wednesday after leading the blue water classic for much of the race.

It completed a quartet of line honours wins for the boat in the prestigious event since 2015 under a third different owner.

Andoo Comanche crossed with a time of one day, 11 hours, 56 minutes and 48 seconds -- about 20 minutes in front of rival supermaxi Law Connect -- and just under three hours short of its own record.

The current race record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds was set by the same Comanche boat under a different skipper in 2017.

Winning Jnr was part of the team that won the event in 2016, but said it was something special to skipper his own crew.

“To do it in a campaign that I was part of putting together is really quite exceptional,” he told national broadcaster ABC.

Last year’s defending champion Black Jack crossed third, followed by Wild Oats, which fell behind after tearing one of its sails earlier in the race.

The 109-strong racing fleet set off from a sun-splashed Sydney Harbour on Monday afternoon, charting their way through the 628-nautical mile course (1163km) to Hobart.

Favourable weather early in the race raised the prospect of toppling that mark, but the strong winds faded as the boats barrelled towards the finish line in Hobart.

The Bass Strait, which separates Tasmania from the mainland, can unleash perilous conditions.

A deep depression proved catastrophic for the fleet in 1998, when six sailors were killed and 55 more were rescued after five boats sank.

Race officials on Tuesday evening said only three of the starting fleet had been forced to retire so far.

One of them, 40-foot yacht Yeah Baby, withdrew less than four hours into the race after reportedly colliding with a massive sunfish.

Dozens of smaller yachts were still in the water Wednesday morning, competing for the handicap prize, which compensates for boat size.

READ BELOW FOR A FULL WRAP OF ALL THE ACTION FROM THE RACE!

Comanche held a consistent lead of 20 nautical miles throughout the afternoon as it moved towards the Derwent with LawConnect telling the Nine papers they expect to arrive at Constitution Dock in Hobart at around 2am AEDT.

As darkness neared, Wild Oats XI fell back into fourth having suffered sail damage overnight while reigning line honours winner Black Jack was third, some five nautical miles behind LawConnect.

FOLLOW THE LIVE RACE TRACKER HERE

Comanche led the fleet into Bass Strait in the early morning, but slipping well behind LDV Comanche’s race record from 2017. Three of the four supermaxis (100-plus-footers) ran well east of the rhumbline to take advantage of marginally stronger winds, before turning back towards the coast of Tasmania around midday.

There were two retirements on the first day, with two-hander Avalanche the first to pull back to shore with a damaged bowsprit after a collision with Llama II just outside the Sydney Heads. Llama II escaped with only superficial damage.

Yeah Baby then retired in the evening after sustaining rudder damage near Wollongong due to a collision with a sunfish, but returned safely to Sydney.

Koa then became the third retirement after breaking her rudder, and is set to be towed to Eden on the NSW south coast, leaving 106 yachts still in the race. Enterprise Next Generation put in a request for redress after helping their stricken rival.

WILD OATS COPS DAMAGE OVERNIGHT

Hamilton Island Wild Oats came within 0.3 nautical miles of Black Jack around 2am overnight in the hunt for third position, before Black Jack surged in the early morning.

The pair traded positions throughout the day, with Wild Oats taking a line significantly closer to rhumbline.

It followed a wild start where both Comanche and Wild Oats were forced to take penalty turns following a series of near-misses in Sydney Harbour (more below).

Wild Oats - hunting a record tenth line honours win - then suffered damage to one of their two largest sails overnight.

Their veteran crewman Chris Links told NewsLocal a seam across one of their large downwind sails split, requiring running repairs on deck.

“It is not an easy job,’’ Links said.

“It has a cable in it and we had to do the repair on deck.

“It took around one and a half hours to repair.’’

LIVE STREAM

Watch live on-board action from LawConnect below.

WILD START CAUSES CHAOS

“Protest, get the flag up, that was f***ing bull***t,” someone yelled on Andoo Comanche in the first two minutes after being cut off by rival supermaxis LawConnect and Black Jack.

URM and LawConnect were also “inches” away from crashing into each other, according to URM skipper Ashley-Jones.

Less than a minute later, one of the crew was heard barking: “you’re asking for a clusterf***, we’re going to be in a collision,” and labelled one rival a “f***ing idiot”.

Comanche hit a turning mark as it exited the heads and was later spotted flying a protest flag of their own, after another boat protested them.

On Wild Oats, which took two penalty turns, skipper Mark Richards could be heard yelling “furl, furl, we are going to do a 720 (penalty turn)”.

Wild Oats famously lost the win in 2017 upon arrival in Hobart, after being handed a one-hour penalty for a rule breach over an incident with Comanche.

That race saw the record time set, with 2022’s Comanche roughly eight nautical miles behind the 2017 edition’s pace late on Monday night and falling further back overnight.

EARLY RACE UPDATES AND PREVIEW (via AFP)

More than 100 yachts set sail Monday on the Sydney-Hobart race as favourable winds raised hopes for a record time in one of the world’s most punishing ocean events.

Fans gathered at coastal vantage points and on spectator boats in a sun-splashed Sydney Harbour, which hours earlier had been shrouded in a thick fog that halted all ferry traffic.

The starting cannon fired to release 109 yachts on the 628-nautical mile (1,200-kilometre) blue water classic.

Crews dashed to get out of the city’s harbour on the first leg of the race down Australia’s eastern coast and across the treacherous Bass Strait towards the finish line in the Tasmanian state capital.

A final weather briefing on race day predicted “fresh to strong” north to northeasterly winds in the next day or so, giving the fastest, 100-foot supermaxi yachts a chance to challenge Comanche’s 2017 record of one day, 9 hours, 15min and 24sec.

Mark Richards, skipper of nine-time line honours-winning supermaxi Wild Oats, said his crew was buoyant after preparing for exactly these conditions.

“We put all our eggs in one basket and we put all our money on black for a downwind forecast and we have ended up getting it,” he told public broadcaster ABC.

“I think Wild Oats is going to be very fast,” Richards added. “The world is going to find out who is the fastest boat downwind.”

Wild Oats is competing for line honours against three rival supermaxis: Andoo Comanche, last year’s line honours winner Black Jack, and LawConnect.

Weather is a critical factor in the race, which was first held in 1945. Though the supermaxis are expected to be powered by northerly winds to a quick finish as early as Tuesday, slower mid- to small-sized boats will still be in the water in the following days facing possible gales and changes in wind direction.

In 1998, when a deep depression exploded over the fleet in the Bass Strait, six men died, five boats sank and 55 sailors were rescued.

Black Jack took line honours last year after a tight tussle with LawConnect, ending years of frustrating near misses to cross the finish line on the River Derwent after two days, 12 hours, 37min and 17sec.

Ichi Ban, which is not racing this year, was the 2021 winner of the overall handicap prize, which takes into account the yachts’ sizes. The boat pipped rival Celestial in a race where dangerous waves and weather conditions saw many withdraw.

International boats are making a return after the race was cancelled in 2020 for the first time due to the pandemic, and Covid hit the fleet last year.

Entrants come from Germany (Orione), Hong Kong (Antipodes), Hungary (Cassiopeia 68), New Caledonia (Eye Candy and Poulpito), New Zealand (Caro), Britain (Sunrise) and the United States (Warrior Won).

Sunrise is a proven ocean racer, winning the 2021 Fastnet Race in Britain, while Caro has been tipped to take out overall handicap honours, although skipper Max Klink played down his prospects ahead of the race saying: “I do not think we are the favourite.”

Race record in sight for leaders in Sydney to Hobart yacht race

Andoo comanche is on track to reach the finish line on wednesday evening with a time that is more than two hours faster than the current race record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds..

The crew of Andoo Comanche can be seen on the vessel as it navigates the choppy waters in Sydney Harbour.

Andoo Comanche is on track to potentially set a new record. The time to beat is one day, nine hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi

  • In the first few minutes of the race, boats nearly collided.
  • The first vessel to retire was Avalanche, a couple of hours into the race.
  • There is the potential for the race record to be broken with the favourable wind conditions.

An array of vessels can be seen leaving Sydney Harbour.

Share this with family and friends

Recommended for you

A middle-aged woman wearing glasses and a face mask getting a vaccine

The world's largest COVID-19 vaccine study involved millions of people. This is what it found

Coronavirus

Three young people sit in separate sandstone arches.

'We've never refused so many': Why student visa approvals have dropped to record lows

Student Visas

A family of parents and two children silhouetted in front of a house

Pamela is 43 with a husband and two kids. They've all moved in with her parents

Cost of Living

A Boeing Dreamliner on the tarmac

At least 50 injured after LATAM's Boeing 787 to Auckland 'just dropped' mid-flight

Aviation accidents and incidents

A graphic showing foods such as cereal, soft drink and packaged bread.

Ultra-processed foods are damaging your health. These are the products to avoid

A split image. On the left is two men posing for a selfie. On the right is a man in handcuffs being escorted by two police officers.

Police officer charged with two counts of murder over missing Sydney couple

Missing persons

Nathalie Casal

A local doctor went for a walk. Three months later she's been reported missing

A close up photo of a person wearing surgical gloves and scrubs injecting a syringe into a person's arm.

This man got 217 COVID shots. Here's what it did to his body

COVID-19 Vaccine

Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from australia and around the world direct to your inbox..

Morning (Mon–Fri)

Afternoon (Mon–Fri)

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

sydney hobart yacht race record

SBS World News

Sydney to Hobart yacht race, day one reports from the bluewater classic as it happened

Sport Sydney to Hobart yacht race, day one reports from the bluewater classic as it happened

SHK Scallywag, with the Hong Kong flag on it black sail, off Sydney with other yachts around it.

One of the three main contenders for Sydney to Hobart line honours, SHK Scallywag, hits early trouble with a sail problem, but it's a close race with LawConnect ahead as the fleet heads south entering night one. Look back on all the action.

Live updates

Race tracker.

 alt=

By Andrew Mcgarry

Follow your favourite entry in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race tracker

Wrapping things up...

sydney hobart yacht race record

We've ticked past 6pm AEDT, and the latest positions remain the same.

LawConnect sits 13 nautical miles east of Kiama, leading by 2.9 nautical miles from Black Jack.

Scallywag is a further 0.9 nautical miles behind, with Stefan Racing in fourth, 7.9 nautical miles behind LawConnect.

However the third and fourth place boats are going faster than their rivals, with Scallywag at 14.9 knots and Stefan Racing at 15.1 knots, compared to 12.9 for LawConnect and 13.3 for Black Jack.

These are small margins, but it suggests Scallywag is back making the most of the wind. If the crew can keep that going for the rest of the evening, they might be a lot closer to the lead by the end of the night.  

Hmmm ... some weather approaching!

As we speak, LawConnect and the leading boats are just passing Kiama on the NSW Coast.

So far things have been relatively straightforward, aside from Scallywag's sail issues.

However ...

A quick scan of the BOM radar shows there is some heavy weather (well some heavy rain at least) heading the way of the fleet (see attached map):

sydney hobart yacht race record

Tracking individual boats

can you explain how on the tracker i can monitor a yacht i bet on ive got ichi ban -Scott

Scott, I have been having the odd-bit of trouble with the tracker this afternoon, trying to isolate particular boats has proved interesting.. 

However, if you go to the standings page on the website, and click the tab saying "Fully Crewed IRC", that should give you the updated placings on handicap, and the estimated finishing times.for whichever boat you want.

For example, Ichi Ban on the latest standings is 15th for line honours, 17.9 nautical miles behind LawConnect.

On IRC, Ichi Ban is 53rd - at this point the estimated race time is three days, 19 hours six minutes and 51 seconds, giving an arrival time of Dec 30 at 8:06.51am. On corrected time, (the right hand column), the overall time would be five days, seven hours, 55 minutes 27 seconds.

In comparison, the leader on IRC (for now) is LawConnect , estimated to finish at 6:51pm on Dec 28, for a time of two days, five hours, 51 minutes 46 seconds.

On corrected time, this gives LawConnect an overall time of four days, 10 hours, 38 minutes 54 seconds.

As the winds and circumstances change, so will the overall standings. But for now, Ichi Ban has a LOT of room to make up.   

sydney hobart yacht race record

So far, so good ...

At this point of the race, a quick update.

Officially we had 88 boats to start with - 71 eligible for line honours and 17 two-handed boats, allowed in the race for the first time.

As of the latest figures, all 88 are still in the race, which means no one has had a significant problem or damage to the boat. That's good to hear!

There was some talk with the forecasted southerly winds this afternoon and tonight that there might be some retirements in the fleet.

Who's to know? At this stage it may be that the winds aren't quite as strong as expected, but there is plenty of time for that to change. Also, for smaller boats particularly, it may be the accumulated wear and tear of hitting bigger waves that causes problems overnight.

We shall see.

First updated standings as of 4pm AEDT:

Here is the top 12 on line honours, with LawConnect having a DTG (distance to go) of 596.3 nautical miles, ahead of Black Jack , with a DTG of 597.8 nautical miles. So LawConnect as of 4pm AEDT had a lead of 1.5 nautical miles. That appears to have changed since, but this gives a snapshot of where the leading boats were 20-odd minutes ago:

sydney hobart yacht race record

The hours into the race, the leaders are a solid distance offshore, halfway between Helensburgh and Wollongong.

LawConnect still leads, and has extended the margin over Black Jack to 1.4 nautical miles. It's relatively middling going for the leaders, with LawConnect's speed at 13 knots, ahead of Black Jack's 12.5 knots.

Behind them, Scallywag is clear again in third, 2.6 nautical miles astern of LawConnect - it is moving at 12.3 knots but does not seem to be able to get too close to the leaders. There is no more word on the state of their sails and whether they have been able to get the main headsail going again.

Stefan Racing is in fourth, a further one nautical mile back from Scallywag.  

Coasters Retreat and the origins of the Sydney to Hobart

sydney hobart yacht race record

Michael Troy has written a great feature on the small community of Coasters Retreat, near Pittwater in Sydney.

In the 1940s Coasters was home to several sailors - some famous, some not so but all with interesting stories.

The home of Selwyn “Dicko” Dickinson was the meeting place for the sailors, and where the idea that turned into the Sydney to Hobart we know today was conceived.

This group broke free of the Royal Prince Alfred Club and began sailing at Broken Bay and elsewhere as a rebel club. This turned into the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, and an original nine boats who “raced” to Hobart as a cruise, with the big prize on offer of a dozen bottles of beer and a jam tin mounted on a wooden block.

You can find out more about the sailors from Coasters Retreat in Michael Troy’s feature here.

Flashback to the start...

sydney hobart yacht race record

As it stands, there are 10 boats - including race leader LawConnect - within 4.5 nautical miles or thereabouts at the front of the race.

Always happy for a shoutout

Hi Andrew 🙂 -Natty

Hello Natty, glad to see you on the blog - hope you can stick around for a while, as the further we get down the coast this afternoon, the more likely it is that we will start to sort out the relative strengths of the leading contenders.

Let's hope that the expected "bash and crash" of stronger winds that are pushing against the fleet doesn't lead to too many problems on board boats.

As we've seen already with Scallywag, problems can occur even in relatively light winds, and when the windspeed gets turned up, things can go really wrong.

A quick snapshot from the tracker shows where things stand at this point. 

You can see Scallywag two back from the leader - Stefan Racing is just to its left, although the name isn't registering.

The orange boat icon on the left is the pace for the race record of Comanche in 2017.

sydney hobart yacht race record

We've got an early challenger from outside the supermaxis!

We have focused so far mostly on the three supermaxis - with good reason, since the last time a supermaxi did not win line honours was in 2004.

But as things stand, we have another boat in the mix.

Race leader LawConnect is travelling at 17.6 knots, followed 1.8 nautical miles back by Black Jack (11.8 knots).

While Scallywag is going a little faster at 12.6 knots, it has been overtaken for third place, at least for the moment.

Stefan Racing, the Botin 80 boat skippered by Grant 'Wharo" Wharington , is going nicely at 11.5 knots, a little over 1.8 nautical miles behind the leader, Stefan Racing is - to use a racing analogy - saving ground a little closer to the coast.

The question of how the leading boats will handle the winds this afternoon and evening will tell us a lot about who is in prime position to win the race.

The small orange sail you can see in the previous pic tweet from SHK Scallywag is the storm jib.

With far less surface area on the sail to work with, it means the boat cannot take full advantage of the wind available.

This is why things are going to be difficult ...

sydney hobart yacht race record

This colour-coded map shows the wind speed and wind direction in the waters off the NSW coast right now.

The arrows show that the wind is coming from the south directly north, so the fleet is heading into the teeth of what wind there is.

The green colour marks around 15 to 20 knots (27.8 to 37 kmh).

The orange colour shows winds that are between 25 and 30 knots (46.3 to 55.5kmh).

So the area the fleet is heading into is mostly orange, which means it will be more difficult to make headway into the wind.

This map shows why there will be not the slightest chance of a race record, and indeed the likelihood is that the leaders will not reach Hobart inside two days. 

The official standings will not kick in for another couple of hours, but at this stage is appears that LawConnect is a decent way in front, travelling at a tick over 14 knots.

Most of the boats are heading out to sea to get the best of the wind, rather than hugging the coast. The only entry that is keeping closer in is No Limit in about ninth spot right now.

Black Jack is moving at 13.3 knots, with Scallywag still suffering from the lack of its preferred sail, going at 11.3 knots.

The wind is not that strong at this point - we are expecting things to shift reasonably soon, with strong southeasterlies making life tough for everyone.

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

sydney hobart yacht race record

Alive wins Rolex Sydney Hobart for a second time in 5 years.

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.

Thank You for making the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race – A Race for the Ages

  • 29 Jan, 2024 11:27:00 AM

Thank You for making the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race – A Race for the Ages

Reflecting on the resounding success of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023 fills us with gratitude. The coordination required for hosting such an iconic event was made possible by the dedicated efforts of everyone involved.

Congratulations to all the divisional winners of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

  • 23 Jan, 2024 10:00:00 AM

Congratulations to all the divisional winners of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

Congratulations to all the divisional winners of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023.

2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - A Race for the Ages

  • 22 Jan, 2024 09:00:00 AM

2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - A Race for the Ages

The 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was one of the most challenging offshore classics in years and delivered some of the tightest finishes for both Line Honours and Overall victory in the race's history.

Four boats still racing – reflections on Toecutter’s debut

  • 01 Jan, 2024 09:00:00 AM

Four boats still racing – reflections on Toecutter’s debut

This morning four yachts remain at sea in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Jason Bond’s Beneteau First 47.7 Enigma (NSW) and Kiwi husband and wife, Michael and Tracey Carter on Allegresse, both due to finish today.

Q & A with Charles Devanneaux – owner of US entry Lenny

  • 01 Jan, 2024 08:59:00 AM

Q & A with Charles Devanneaux – owner of US entry Lenny

**Charles Devanneaux (second from right) with crew of LENNY** Although French, with a full French crew, Charles Devanneaux represented the USA where he lives.

PHOTOS | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Official Prizegiving

PHOTOS | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Official Prizegiving

PHOTOS | Day 5 Morning - Tasman Island and Storm Bay

PHOTOS | Day 5 Morning - Tasman Island and Storm Bay

PHOTOS | Day 5 and Day 6 finishers

PHOTOS | Day 5 and Day 6 finishers

PHOTOS | Official Presentation of Tattersall Cup and Rolex Timepiece to the Overall Winner

PHOTOS | Official Presentation of Tattersall Cup and Rolex Timepiece to the Overall Winner

VIDEO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - Rolex Daily Video Summary

VIDEO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - Rolex Daily Video Summary

VIDEO | Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

VIDEO | Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

VIDEO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Official Prizegiving

VIDEO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Official Prizegiving

VIDEO | Race Update - 31 December Morning

VIDEO | Race Update - 31 December Morning

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 10

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 10

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 9

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 9

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 8

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 8

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 7

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 7

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 6

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 6

  • Line Honours

Full Standings available approximately three hours after the start.

Virtual Regatta. The official game

OFFICIAL ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART MERCHANDISE

Shop the official clothing range of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in person at the Club in New South Head Road, Darling Point or online below.  

From casual to technical clothing, there is something for all occasions. Be quick as stock is limited!

  • Election 2024
  • Entertainment
  • Newsletters
  • Photography
  • Personal Finance
  • AP Buyline Personal Finance
  • Press Releases
  • Israel-Hamas War
  • Russia-Ukraine War
  • Global elections
  • Asia Pacific
  • Latin America
  • Middle East
  • March Madness
  • AP Top 25 Poll
  • Movie reviews
  • Book reviews
  • Personal finance
  • Financial Markets
  • Business Highlights
  • Financial wellness
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Social Media

51 seconds apart after 628 nautical miles: LawConnect edges Comanche in Sydney to Hobart race

Comanche heads down Sydney Harbour during the start of the Sydney Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. The 630-nautical mile race has more than 100 yachts starting in the race to the island state of Tasmania. (Salty Dog/CYCA via AP)

Comanche heads down Sydney Harbour during the start of the Sydney Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. The 630-nautical mile race has more than 100 yachts starting in the race to the island state of Tasmania. (Salty Dog/CYCA via AP)

Skallywag, left, and Comanche sail close during the start of the Sydney Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. The 630-nautical mile race has more than 100 yachts starting in the race to the island state of Tasmania. (Salty Dog/CYCA via AP)

  • Copy Link copied

HOBART, Australia (AP) — LawConnect won line honors in the 78th edition of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Thursday, holding off defending champion Andoo Comanche by less than a minute in an exciting finish between the super maxis.

The pair of 100-foot yachts had dueled for much of the race and were well ahead of the rest of the fleet of 103 yachts that started the race on Tuesday in Sydney harbor.

LawConnect, which was runner-up in the last three editions of the race, finished in 1 day, 19 hours, 3 minutes, 58 seconds. Comanche’s time was 1 day, 19 hours, 4 minutes, 49 seconds — a margin of just 51 seconds.

It was the second-closest finish in Sydney to Hobart history after Condor of Bermuda beat Apollo by seven seconds in 1982.

Both yachts performed several late jibes as they attempted to secure the lead.

“I can’t believe that result. Honestly, it is a dream come true,” LawConnect’s skipper and owner Christian Beck said. “They took the lead pretty close to the line and we thought there was no way we could get it back.

“A wind gust came around. It was a complete surprise. There were guys who couldn’t watch. It was very nerve wracking.”

Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic hits a return to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the United Cup tennis tournament in Perth, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Trevor Collens)

Comanche holds the race record of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds, set when it won the race in 2017.

“It is pretty painful, we’ve got an amazing boat that should have won,” Comanche skipper and owner John Winning Jr. said of Thursday’s result. “The other guys sailed their guts out and left nothing on the table. They beat us with an underdog boat, those guys deserve all the praise they get.”

“It was one of the most epic finishes in probably any sailing race I know. In the last three minutes I think the lead changed three times.”

Comanche and LawConnect were clear front-runners from just out of Sydney harbor. The pair began the trip down the New South Wales south coast at a fast clip but fell off the race record pace. The finish was at Constitution Dock in Hobart, the capital of the island state of Tasmania.

The highest-profile retirement of 11 race withdrawals was SHK Scallywag, one of four 100-foot super maxis which sustained a broken bow sprit and withdrew on the first evening of the race.

LawConnect was the first yacht out of the harbor.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

sydney hobart yacht race record

Guinness World Records

Largest fleet to start the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Largest fleet to start the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

sydney hobart yacht race record

Last Sydney to Hobart yacht arrives with 18 minutes left of 2022

A ny other day, they would have slipped quietly into Constitution Dock. But when 70-year-old Kathy Veel and 62-year-old Bridget Canham crossed the Sydney to Hobart finish line - the last of the fleet to do so - at 11.42pm on New Year’s Eve, it was as if they’d heralded the early arrival of 2023.

A crowd in the thousands who had packed out the Hobart shoreline to ring in the new year chanted “Currawong, Currawong!” as the two-hander made its way past the packed-out Taste of Summer festival and around Constitution Dock.

Cheers came from the water, too, where boats had lined up to greet the nine-metre yacht as it pushed up the River Derwent.

After a lap of honour around the thrilled spectators, interviews on the boat, and the well-deserved popping of a giant bottle of champagne: the fireworks. Veel and Canham watched from the 1973 vessel that had carried them south.

You couldn’t have written a better ending to a story that stretched five days at sea, 630 nautical miles, and a day of waiting in Eden as they waited for bad weather in Bass Strait to pass.

“You wouldn’t believe the stops we pulled to get this happening,” said Canham. “The biggest challenge we had was getting here before New Year’s Eve,” she said. “We’ve been working our butts off to get here. And it’s paid off.”

Veel said the experience was “unbelievable”. “[It was like] nothing I’ve ever had ... in my whole life, she said. “When you heard people going, ‘Curr-a-wong!’, I thought, ‘What?!’

“I’m really proud of what we’ve done.”

The sailors described the weather conditions down the coast as “brilliant”.

“The boat behaved so well, it was just magic,” said Canham, a retired nurse.

The sailors are among the oldest to compete in the Sydney to Hobart race, and certainly the oldest in the race’s new two-handed fleet section. But Veel, a retired teacher now living in Bullabarra, near Katoomba, said they didn’t want to be defined by their age - nor their sex.

“It’s not, to be honest, how we think of ourselves,” said Veel in the lead-up to the race. “We’re sailors who happen to be women rather than women who sail.

Veel purchased the boat last year, and ran a GoFundMe page to raise financial support so the pair could purchase the necessary supplies to enter the race.

In 2021, Veel was named Blue Mountains Volunteer of the Year for her work with the not-for-profit sailing-based Making Waves Foundation.

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter .

LCE Old School is sailed consistently well - Andrea Francolini, RPAYC pic

LCE Old School is sailed consistently well - Andrea Francolini, RPAYC pic

Whisper is among the line and overall contenders - Andrea Francolini, RPAYC pic

Whisper is among the line and overall contenders - Andrea Francolini, RPAYC pic

Post start last year - Andrea Francolini, RPAYC pic

Post start last year - Andrea Francolini, RPAYC pic

Race is on to win 2024 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race

Over 30 boats will be on the start line for the 2024 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race this Friday when monohulls, a multihull and two-handed entries will share the start line off Barrenjoey Headland for the 1pm start.  

Respected sailor, Theresa Michell, has joined forces with Paul Beath and his J/99, Verite, for their first major two-handed race together. Newcomers to the Pittwater Coffs, Beath did the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart in two-handed mode with another co-skipper. He and Michell’s first two-handed training session was a four-day return trip from Hobart.

“It was all upwind. Not particularly pleasant,” Beath remembered. “One of the reasons she is doing this race with me is because she sailed with me fully crewed in the Sydney Gold Coast race and the rest of the Blue Water Pointscore last year and we get on well.

“And this race is at a nice time of year,” the Novocastrian said of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club’s (RPAYC) 226 nautical mile race.

Although she halted racing at the end of the 1990s to raise a family, Michell’s credentials are outstanding in both two-handed and fully-crewed sailing, as a skipper, navigator and crew.

She contested the 5500 nautical mile two-handed Melbourne to Osaka race in 1999 on an Adams 10 that she also skippered in the 1998 Double-Handed Trans-Tasman Challenge from Sydney to New Plymouth in New Zealand. She has sailed on the international scene, done Sydney Hobarts and sailed an Olympic class dinghy.

“This is a new team in a new race and we think it’s a good distance. We’ll get our systems together and get organised,” Beath commented.

“It will be a demanding race because of the currents and fluctuating conditions.”

The pair are expected to be competitive against all-comers, including other two-handed entries such as Chris O’Neill, who returns with Blue Planet after finishing the race seventh overall last year.

“We also won PHS and were second in ORC – and these results were exactly the same in the two-handed division,” he said.

This time he will be co-skippered by Tom Johnston, who helped him to sixth in the two-handed division of the 2023 Sydney Hobart.

“It’s a fun race and a good location in Coffs, it’s not too strenuous and importantly, there’s been sufficient time between this race and the Sydney Hobart – I’ve forgotten all the pain,” O’Neill said wryly.

Among the latest fully crewed entries for the 38 th  ‘Pittwater to Coffs’ is David Griffith’s record breaking JV62 Whisper, which will likely battle Geoff Hill’s Santa Cruz 72, Antipodes, for line honours. Whisper is also a favourite for the overall win, but due to the many weather vagaries at this time of year, the race really is wide open in all classifications.

On his quarry, Whisper’s owner says: “With her long waterline length, if Antipodes gets reaching conditions, she is quick, she will take off. We’re in pretty good shape though and the boat’s in perfect order.”

Griffith says his crew will also hold them in good stead. Among them are Rear Admiral Lee Goddard, Michael Coxon, Dougie McGain, Michael Fountain and Brett Van Munster. 

“Either way, it’s a wonderful race and the Alfreds do a great job,” Griffith said. “Everyone loves a destination race and Coffs Harbour is a great destination with lots to do.”

Others chasing overall glory are regular DK46 rivals Khaleesi (Sandy Farquharson/Rob Aldis) and LCE Old School Racing (Mark Griffith). At the Nautilus Marine Insurance Sydney Harbour Regatta in early March, the latter placed second in the Open division on home turf, while Griffith’s boat, from RPAYC, was second. Another DK46, Nine Dragons, was declared the winner. 

Pierre Gal has entered the Asia catamaran Stealth 12.60 named Fez. The French expat, who lives on the NSW north coast, is a name locally and internationally, competing in the America’s Cup for France and has Australian victories too.

Incidentally, Gal won Division 4 of the 2019 Sydney Gold Coast race with Mistral, the same Lombard 34 that won the 2023 Pittwater Coffs race for two-handed sailors, Rupert Henry and Greg O’Shea last year.

Follow the fleet on the race tracker at:  https://yb.tl/pittwater2024

For all information go to:  www.pittwatertocoffs.com.au

Di Pearson/RPAYC media

ALSO ON MYSAILING

sydney hobart yacht race record

Pickles & Clockwork

sydney hobart yacht race record

GSC – Four skippers still battling to finish

sydney hobart yacht race record

SailGP’s Trans-Tasman rivalry heats up ahead of race weekend in Christchurch

sydney hobart yacht race record

Slow start Pittwater to Coffs as skipper recalls honeymoon race!

sydney hobart yacht race record

2024 Pittwater Sailing Yacht Show!

sydney hobart yacht race record

2024 NSW O’pen Skiff Championships

sydney hobart yacht race record

Best of the best to contest national yachting title in Newcastle

sydney hobart yacht race record

OGR – Winners and Losers on Leg 4

sydney hobart yacht race record

GSC – Andrea Mura reclaims joy on podium

sydney hobart yacht race record

Final Club Championship results at Manly 16ft Skiff Sailing Club

sydney hobart yacht race record

Outteridge takes the wheel as Schneiter steps back for remainder of Season 4

sydney hobart yacht race record

Windcraft presents award-winning sail and power line-up at 2024 Auckland Boat Show

Join Our Newsletter

  • Name First Last
  • Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Latest

Read all of the latest sailing news

Latest

Dinghy and Yacht Racing News

Latest

News from the offshore world

Latest

Cruising Stories from around the world

Latest

Boats & Gear

The latest boats and yachting gear

Latest

Watch everything sailing and boating

Latest Sailing News, Racing, Cruising, Boats, Gear and more

SCORA

Catalina Crossing

sydney hobart yacht race record

History of the Catalina Channel Crossing

The first outrigger race held in California was on September 20, 1959. This first race was a long distance race from Avalon on Catalina Island to the Newport Dunes inside the California Coast.

The famous Duke Kahanamoku served as the Grand Marshall of the first California Outrigger event and founded the Catalina to Newport Dunes race – the original California Outrigger Classic. The subsequent races were underwritten by the Balboa Improvement Association and Ira Dowd, part owner of the Newport Dunes.

The first race involved two canoes shipped to California from Hawaii through the efforts of Albert Edward “Toots” Minvielle. Both of them were koa wood canoes with the names Malia meaning calm waters and Niuhe, meaning shark.

The malia team was composed of Hawaiian All Star outrigger paddlers organized by Toots. Some of the members of that first Hawaiian team to paddle the Catalina Channel in 1959 were Chris Bodie, Blu Makua, Archie Kuana, Joe Gilman, Sonny Heniques, and Dougie Carr. The California team paddled the Niuhe. This first mainland team included George Kopa, Tom Johnson, Dan Uadis, Frank Saddler, Mike Johnson, Dave Arne, Doug Wood, Ron Druman, Lorrin Harrison and others.

The Hawaiian team won the race in a time of 5 hours. The newly formed California team in the Niuhe finished close behind in a time of 5 hours, 11 minutes. Lorrin Harrison – Part of first California outrigger team, and founder of Dana Outrigger Canoe Club (Est. 1972) Lorrin Harrison, the steersman and original member of the first California team had the following remembrances of the early beginnings and that first race, “when I first heard about canoe racing here, I had a dugout canoe that I built in 1950. We were surfing it down in Doheny. Noah Kalama came by, he knew my sister from Hawaii, and I knew him from body surfing. He said, “Lorrin can you get a team together of guys down here you think would like to paddle? We’ll have a race with a Hawaiian team.”

“I said, ‘Yeah, we can do that!’ So we started coming here to the Dunes, paddling here till 9 o clock every night. There were about 15 guys all paddling. Other guys would build a fire and we’d stay here and paddle when the wind was howling. We worked for two months. We were so sick of paddling there. I thought we would never get out and see the ocean. Finally Noah let us go out and it was rough outside, too. That’s the way it all started, right here in these Newport Dunes.”

Then they brought the Hawaiian team over so we all hooked behind some big boat, towed all the people and the two boats over to Avalon. The race started the next morning after we were there. It was just two boats in the race from Avalon. Coming across we were making changes.

We had about 25 people to draw from. About half-way across, the escort boat ran ahead to drop people in the water and made a big wake. The wake flipped the boat straight up on edge with the ama (outrigger) straight out of the water. I stayed – stuck in, but my number one man was about 20 feet off the stern and it threw all the other men out too. So Noah put a whole new 5 guys in and we kept going. At that time we were right even with Blu Makua and the Hawaiian team. When we came into the south end of the Newport Dunes, they finished 11 minutes ahead of us. I had been in the boat for 5 hours and 11 minutes with no drink of water and I thought I’d just die when we hit the beach ’cause of the paddle Noah gave me, he said ‘You gotta have a big paddle for this race’. That sucker weighed 10 pounds at least. I still got the paddle, I got the proof, if any one wants to paddle 30 miles with it, they can have it.”

While the first Catalina to Newport Dunes Race was a culmination of efforts and farsightedness on the part of several outstanding persons in canoe paddling, the spirit behind the spread and development of outrigger canoe paddling as a sport, both in Hawaii and California, is the famous Albert “Toots” Minvielle.

Toots Minvielle and 1958 were pivotal points in the history of outrigger canoeing, especially for California. In 1958 Toots met Tommy Zahn from Santa Monica, shortly after Tommy had paddled the Molokai Channel on a surfboard.Tommy Zahn responded immediately – there was sufficient interest. He arranged a luncheon meeting in early 1959 with Ira Dowd, the owner of the Newport Dunes, Sam Miller, (then commodore of the Balboa Bay Club), and Al Oberg, Harbor Master of Newport Beach in 1959. All the right people were there and California’s Outrigger racing history had begun.

Noah Kalama, sent to California by Toots Minvielle to coach the first California Outrigger team, and Tom Johnson, an original member of the first California outrigger racing team, were the first to perceive the need for California-based canoes. The boats used for that first Catalina race were scheduled to be shipped back to Hawaii after the competition was completed. Noah Kalama and Tom Johnson, realizing the development of California outrigger racing would hinge upon a local boat supply, were quick to act. They made a mold of the Malia hull – and California outrigger boat building was born.

Although Toots Minveille initiated efforts to bring Hawaiian Canoe Paddling to the mainland in 1958, 1959 was the year paddling arrived – the same year that Hawaii joined the United States of America. What may have been initially seen as merely a gesture – sharing a facet of Hawaiian culture with the mainland through the Aloha Celebration and the aloha spirit of Toots Minveille- has given mainlanders, especially Californians, a tease, a feel and a love for Hawaiian traditions.

Mahalo Hawaii, Mahalo Toots Minveille for outrigger canoe paddling – a wonderful slice of Hawaiian life.

– Excerpts from article written by Michael (Jake) Jacobs

COMMENTS

  1. Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

    The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an annual event hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, New South Wales, ... 21 hours, 13 minutes, 37 seconds). The previous Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race record had been set by Morning Glory (2 days, 14 hours, 7 minutes, 10 seconds) in 1996.

  2. List of Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race winners

    This is a list of Winners for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race since 1945. Line honours winners. Year Sail number Yacht State/country Yacht type LOA (Metres) Skipper Elapsed time d:hh:mm:ss ... Race cancelled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. 2021 AUS001 Ichi Ban: Botin TP52: 15.90 Matt Allen IRC 4:10:17:39 2022 9535 Celestial: Judel Vrolijk ...

  3. Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

    The historic 75th Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was one for the record books. The fleet saw 157 yachts start the anniversary race with only three yachts retiring before the finish line. The battle for line honours was as strong as ever with five super maxis fighting to be the first to cross the finish line at Constitution Dock.

  4. Sydney to Hobart yacht race

    Race record holder Andoo Comanche holds the lead on the Sydney to Hobart yacht race — and favourable winds have it close to beating its own record pace from 2017. Look back at how the race ...

  5. 75 years of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

    The current race record was set in 2017 by LDV Comanche, at one day, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds - an unthinkable record for those who sailed in the very first race 75 years ago. Nine-times Sydney to Hobart line honours champion Wild Oats XI in 2015. Image courtesy Andrea Francolini. The first 'Hobart' sailors were friends from the ...

  6. Perpetual Loyal wins Sydney to Hobart race in record time

    The gruelling Sydney to Hobart yacht race has been won in record time. Perpetual Loyal finished the 628 nautical miles (1,163km) in one day, 13 hours, 31 minutes and 20 seconds - almost five hours ...

  7. Sydney to Hobart yacht race 2023 overall winner Alive takes the cup for

    The Philip Turner-owned yacht is a Tasmanian sailing stalwart, and holds the race record for the Launceston to Hobart yacht race. How this yacht won the Sydney to Hobart by just 51 seconds

  8. Sydney to Hobart yacht race wrap 2023: Winners, drama, history, finish

    LawConnect wins the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart yacht race after a close finish with 2nd place Andoo Comanche. ... Lindsay May on Antipodes completed his 50th successive race - a record for the ...

  9. 2021 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

    The 2021 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race was the 76th annual running of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, hosted by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and sponsored by Rolex. It began on Sydney Harbour at 13:00 on 26 December 2021, before heading south for 628 nautical miles (1,163 km) via the Tasman Sea, Bass Strait, Storm Bay and up the River Derwent, to cross the finish line in Hobart, Tasmania.

  10. Sydney to Hobart yacht race 2022 live updates, results, current order

    More than 100 yachts set sail Monday on the Sydney-Hobart race as favourable winds raised hopes for a record time in one of the world's most punishing ocean events.

  11. Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2023: Live updates, results, retirements

    Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 2023 as it happened: Andoo Comanche holds slender lead, Olympian among three more retirements ... Wild weather on the first night ended any hopes of a race record and ...

  12. Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race Results

    SYDNEY TO HOBART YACHT RACE. This renowned yachting challenge was initiated in 1945 and begins each Boxing Day (26th. December) when competitors leave Sydney Harbour on a 628 nautical mile challenge to Hobart in Tasmania. ... Race Record: 01.09.15.24: Ichi Ban (NSW) 2018: Wild Oats X1 (Record number of wins - 9) 01.19.11.14: Alive (TAS) 2019 ...

  13. Two super maxis continue to lead the Sydney to Hobart race as storms

    Comanche heads down Sydney Harbour during the start of the Sydney Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. The 630-nautical mile race has more than 100 yachts starting in the race to the island state of Tasmania. ... race is at Constitution Dock in the state capital of Hobart. The line honors record of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes, 24 ...

  14. Race record in sight for leaders in Sydney to Hobart yacht race

    Race record in sight for leaders in Sydney to Hobart yacht race Andoo Comanche is on track to reach the finish line on Wednesday evening with a time that is more than two hours faster than the ...

  15. Sydney to Hobart yacht race, day one reports from the bluewater classic

    The top 12 boats on line honours at 4pm AEDT (Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race) Share. Copy link; ... The orange boat icon on the left is the pace for the race record of Comanche in 2017.

  16. Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

    2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - A Race for the Ages. The 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was one of the most challenging offshore classics in years and delivered some of the tightest finishes for both Line Honours and Overall victory in the race's history. Watch Video. 01 Jan, 2024 09:00:00 AM.

  17. 51 seconds apart after 628 nautical miles: LawConnect edges Comanche in

    1 of 2 | . Comanche heads down Sydney Harbour during the start of the Sydney Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. The 630-nautical mile race has more than 100 yachts starting in the race to the island state of Tasmania.

  18. Largest fleet to start the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

    Largest fleet to start the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. The largest number of vessels to start the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is 371 in 1994. Of those, 309 finished the race. Records change on a daily basis and are not immediately published online. For a full list of record titles, please use our Record Application Search.

  19. Super maxi Black Jack leads Sydney to Hobart yacht race

    SYDNEY (AP) — Monaco Yacht Club super maxi Black Jack held a 18-nautical-mile lead over fellow maxi SHK Scallywag on Monday in a Sydney to Hobart race hit hard by retirements of nearly half the fleet due to heavy seas.More than 24 hours into the annual race from Sydney Harbor to Hobart on the island state of Tasmania, Black Jack was estimated to finish the race by Tuesday evening based on ...

  20. Last Sydney to Hobart yacht arrives with 18 minutes left of 2022

    The arrival of 70-year-old Kathy Veel and 62-year-old Bridget Canham in Hobart at 11.42pm on New Year's Eve was met with fireworks and cheering from the crowd on Constitution Dock to ring in 2023.

  21. 2022 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

    The 2022 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, sponsored by Rolex and hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, was the 77th annual running of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.It began on Sydney Harbour at 1 pm on Boxing Day (26 December 2022), before heading south for 628 nautical miles (1,163 km) through the Tasman Sea, Bass Strait, Storm Bay and up the River Derwent, to cross the ...

  22. Race is on to win 2024 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race

    Respected sailor, Theresa Michell, has joined forces with Paul Beath and his J/99, Verite, for their first major two-handed race together. Newcomers to the Pittwater Coffs, Beath did the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart in two-handed mode with another co-skipper. He and Michell's first two-handed training session was a four-day return trip from Hobart.

  23. 630 HOBART Ter, Santa Clara, CA 95051

    4 beds, 2 baths, 1959 sq. ft. house located at 630 HOBART Ter, Santa Clara, CA 95051 sold for $640,000 on Jun 3, 2011. MLS# ML81100116. Great Santa Clara updated home, new interior paint, refinishe...

  24. California Death Index, 1940-1997 • FamilySearch

    Records Images Family Tree Genealogies Catalog Books Wiki. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Name index of death index created by the California Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Section in Sacramento. Index includes name, sex, date and place of birth, date and county of death, father's last name, and mother's maiden name. ...

  25. World record progression 200 metres breaststroke

    During the race, Verdeur broke the world record for 200 meters with a time of 2:28.3 (short course). However, Brawner won the race with a time of 2:29.3 for the full 220 yards beating Verdeur who was second in 2:29.4. ... Hobart, Australia 2:00.67: Dániel Gyurta: December 13, 2009 Istanbul, Turkey: 2:00.48: ... Sydney, Australia 2:23.64 ...

  26. Catalina Crossing

    History of the Catalina Channel Crossing. The first outrigger race held in California was on September 20, 1959. This first race was a long distance race from Avalon on Catalina Island to the Newport Dunes inside the California Coast. The famous Duke Kahanamoku served as the Grand Marshall of the first California Outrigger event and founded the ...