67th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, A Boxing Day Tradition, Favors Mid Fleet

88 international crews are to set sail on Monday, 26th December in the 67th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Conditions this year are set to be diverse and challenging, but initial forecasts are not showing any extreme weather.

According to Rob Webb, Regional Director of the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, Monday’s start from Sydney Harbour, at 1300 local time, will be accompanied by 15-20 knot northerlies, providing an initial blast south for the crews. But this will be shortlived. Later that afternoon, southerly/SSWerly headwinds are expected to fill in on the north side of Bass Strait and up the New South Wales coast. Two days in and the weather on the south side of Bass Strait and down the east coast of Tasman turns into a lottery, with light patchy wind dominating the course until an area of high pressure moves in from the west later in the week.

Clear favourite for line honours is of course Bob Oatley’s 100ft maxi Wild Oats XI, first to Hobart in five of the last six races and winner of the ‘triple’ (line and handicap honours, plus the course record) in 2005. Anticipating stiff competition this year from American George David’s Rambler 100 (until her keel snapped off in the Rolex Fastnet Race this August), so Wild Oats XI has over the last 18 months been significantly turboed, with twin daggerboards replacing her forward ‘canard’, a new keel, the canting angle of her keel increased and her mainsail and spinnakers enlarged, etc. But given the latest forecast, even with her increased horsepower, tactician Iain Murray says Wild Oats XI is still only going to get down to Hobart in two days four to five hours, some way outside of her one day 18 hour and 40 minute record.

“We will barrel out of Sydney, probably look for some leverage in the east so that we get some runway to land us back on the coast as the breeze starts to turn to the southwest,” says Murray. “Then we’ll go straight across Bass Straight and after that it is pretty sketchy how it is going to be off the east Tasmanian coast. It is always difficult there. You end up with patches of no wind and the breeze goes over the top of Tasmania.”
The last half is all up in the air and that could be good for us   Stan Honey – INVESTEC LOYAL

Sailing with the celebrity crew, including Australian rugby union internationals Phil Kearns and Phil Waugh, on Anthony Bell’s maxi Investec Loyal, American navigator Stan Honey does not see much opportunity for their 100 footer until the latter half of the race. “If it was really windy or really light it would be less of a difference. The last half is all up in the air and that could be good for us, but the dice will have to roll in our favour a few times.”

The general consensus is that if the varying forecast is likely to favour one size range this year, then it would be the mid-fleet, the 40-60 footers.

At the top end of this band falls Stephen Ainsworth’s three year old Reichel Pugh 63 Loki, one of Australia’s most successful race boats. Most recently Loki was winner of the 2010-11 Bluewater Pointscore Championship, the result of a spectacular season in which she regularly podiumed, and won line honours and her class in the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race.

Slightly down the size range are the eight 52 footers, including five former TP52s. One of the most successful of these is Ragamuffin, the Farr-designed former Pegasus/Morning Light, owned by one of the Australia’s most eminent yachtsmen Syd Fischer. Aged 84, Fischer this year sets off on his 43rd Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Having won the race in 1992, Fischer says the accuracy of the weather forecasts for the race are better these days than they used to be, but does not seem overly bullish in this year’s predictions favouring boats in Ragamuffin’s size range. “I will confirm that when I see it. I don’t trust the forecast and the weather is very volatile at the moment.”

Despite having a slightly shorter boat, Chris Bull, the British owner and skipper of Jazz, says that his Cookson 50 invariably beats the TP52s offshore on handicap, but even he is not confident of their prospects with the present weather forecast.

“We’d like it to be breezy upwind and breezy downwind. But we definitely need some breezy upwind. A couple of days ago it was looking good. Unfortunately the forecast seems to be backing off a bit in terms of the wind strength. It is not looking too bad for us, but not as good as last year when there were pretty gnarly conditions which suited us.”
In fact I would say no race of less
than 2,000 miles is as tough as this one
Chris Bull – JAZZ

Having this year competed in the Atlantic Ocean Racing Series, comprising races in the Caribbean, US east coast, a transatlantic race and then the Rolex Fastnet Race, Bull still believes the Rolex Sydney Hobart is the toughest of the ‘classic 600 milers’: “Conditions are generically tougher – you are in the Southern Ocean, generally you experience stronger winds and every year you get strong winds, which is not true of the others. The water is colder than it is for any of the other 600 mile races. In fact I would say no race of less than 2,000 miles is as tough as this one. I have done Round Britain and Ireland which is 1,760 miles – that’s not as tough as this race.”

At the bottom end of the favoured mid-fleet is a new boat in the hands the handicap winners of the 1998 race. The new AFR Midnight Rambler, owned by Ed Psaltis, Bob Thomas and Michael Bencsik, is a Ker 40 production race boat from British designer Jason Ker. The boat, with its massive flare aft, is unusual for being fast both upwind and downwind while also rating well under IRC.
It is going to be a brutal race for us and quite wet, but if you are going fast the discomfort is quite tolerable
“It is quite unique to have a boat that is strong on all points of sails,” says Psaltis. “We are very pleased with it so far. It is quite radical. It is going to be a brutal race for us and quite wet, but if you are going fast the discomfort is quite tolerable.” However he admits they are on a steep learning curve with the boat having only taken ownership in September.

As to the forecast, Psaltis says they were hoping to get more downwind sailing at the outset, but says they should also be strong when the wind backs into the south. “The first day and a half looks good for us. The Tasman coast is still a lottery. The report today was the different to the report we saw yesterday and it will change again tomorrow.”

A dark horse could be the all-French crew aboard Jacques Pelletier’s X-43 L’Ange de Milon. Among her crew of Pelletier’s family and friends are three sailors who normally compete in the singlehanded Figaro class, among them Nicolas Lunven, 2009 winner of the class’ premier event, La Solitaire du Figaro. While L’Ange de Milon competed in the Rolex Sydney Hobart last year, this is Lunven’s first time and he says he is looking forward to it. However he adds they may not see their ideal weather: “She likes lots of wind and upwind, which is good for the boat, but not very good for the crew!”

Unusually, the bottom end of the fleet is likely to get considerable attention locally as the Sydney 38 class includes Ella Bache. This is skippered by 18 year old, Jessica Watson, who famously sailed around the world singlehanded when she was just 16, becoming a media sensation in Australia in the process. Watson’s youth crew also includes Britain’s Michael Perham, 19, who sailed singlehanded around the world when he was 17.

“I have never sailed in the Rolex Sydney Hobart race, but as a navigator I’ve been studying it a lot recently, looking at the weather patterns and the current around here which are big factors for us small boats,” said Perham, who is down in Australia, after Watson competed with him in the UK this year in the Round the Island Race.

The Rolex Sydney Hobart sets sail at 13:00 local time from within Sydney Harbour.
Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2011 Entries

	Accenture Yeah Baby	8362	NSW	GP42
	AFR Midnight Rambler	8338	NSW	Ker 40
	Alacrity	7447	QLD	Beneteau First 44.7
	Alchemy III	5976	TAS	Beneteau 57
	Aurora	N3	NSW	Farr 40 – One Off
	Bacardi	SM377	VIC	Peterson 44
	Balance	7771	NSW	Beneteau 45
	Brindabella	10000	NSW	Jutson 79
	Cadibarra 8	R420	VIC	Jones 42
	Calm	SM5252	VIC	TP52
	Carina	USA315	USA	McCurdy & Rhodes 48
	Celestial	G421	NSW	Rogers 46
	Chancellor	6834	NSW	Beneteau First 40
	Chutzpah	R33	VIC	IRC 40
	ColorTile	67	NSW	Sayer 44.9
	Copernicus	6689	NSW	Radford 12
	Cougar II	SM5200	TAS	TP52
	Deloitte As One	2005	NSW	Sydney 38
	Dodo	8488	NSW	Sydney 38
	Duende	ESP6100	NSW	JV52
	Dump Truck	A6	TAS	Ker 11.3
	Elektra	R2099	NSW	Beneteau 47.7
	Ella Bache	2004	NSW	Sydney 38
	Eressea	6590	QLD	Hanse
	Ffreefire 52	HKG2238	Hong Kong	TP52
	Flying Fish Arctos	7551	NSW	Radford 16.4
	Fullynpushing	M25	VIC	Sydney 38
	Hugo Boss	GBR8055	UK	Open 60
	Icefire	R6572	NSW	Mummery 45
	Ichi Ban	AUS 03	NSW	Jones 70
	Illusion	5356	NSW	Davidson 34
	Investec Loyal	SYD100	NSW	Maxi
	Jazz	5299	NSW	Cookson 50
	Jazz Player	S390	VIC	Bakewell – White 39
	Kioni	6146	NSW	Beneteau First 47.7
	Kiss Goodbye to MS	S37	VIC	Inglis 39
	Knee Deep	HY161	WA	Farr 49
	L’ange De Milon	FRA29999	France	X 43
	Lahana	10081	NSW	30m Maxi
	Last Tango	8975	NSW	Salona 44
	Living Doll	R55	VIC	Farr 55
	LMR Solar	M161	NSW	Sayer 40
	Loki	AUS60000	NSW	Reichel Pugh 63
	Lunchtime Legend	RQ14	QLD	Beneteau First 40
	Maluka Of Kermandie	A19	NSW
	Martela	7075	TAS	IMX 38
	Menace	M24	NSW	Phillips/Simpson 11.7
	Merit	8679	QLD	Volvo 60
	Mille Sabords	SM381	VIC	Sydney 38
	Minerva	6837	NSW	DK 43
	Mondo	5656	QLD	Sydney 38
	Natelle Two	2555	TAS	Peterson 41 2 Tonne
	Nemesis	USA69200	USA	C & C 41
	Not Negotiable	S521	TAS	UFO34
	NSC Mahligai	NZL1	NSW	Sydney 46
	Nutcracker	SM3500	VIC	X35
	Ocean Affinity	RQ64	QLD	Marten 49
	One For The Road	N40	NSW	A40
	Optimus Prime	CR1	WA	Marten 49
	Outrageous Fortune	NZ9138	New Zealand	Beneteau First 45
	Papillon	6841	NSW	Archambault 40RC
	Patrice IV	YC271	SA	Beneteau First 45
	Patrice Six	360	NSW	X41
	Pretty Fly III	10007	NSW	Cookson 50
	Quetzalcoatl	2001	NSW	Jones 40
	Ragamuffin	AUS 70	NSW	TP52
	Samurai Jack	88888	QLD	Farr39mlMOD
	Scarlet Runner	SM11	VIC	Reichel Pugh 52
	She	4924	NSW	Olsen 40
	Shepherd Centre	11407	NSW	Beneteau 40.7
	Shogun	6952	VIC	JV 52
	Southern Excellence	NOR2	NSW	Volvo 60
	St Jude	6686	NSW	Sydney 47
	Strewth	GBR5211L	Hong Kong	TP52
	Sweethart	RQ2001	QLD	Jutson 39
	The Banshee	4100	NSW	MBD41
	The Goat	7027	NSW	Sydney 38
	TSA Management	MH60	NSW	Sydney 38
	Two True	YC400	SA	Beneteau First 40
	Vamp	43218	NSW	Corby 49
	Victoire	1545	NSW	Beneteau First 45
	Wasabi	AUS 88	NSW	Sayer 12 MOD
	Wave Sweeper	7407	NSW	Beneteau First 40.7
	Whistler	L77	TAS	MBD36
	Wild Oats XI	10001	NSW	RP100
	Wild Rose	4343	NSW	Farr 43
	Wild Thing	M10	QLD	IRC Maxi 98
	Willyama	335	NSW	Beneteau First 40