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Lawconnect pips andoo comanche by 51 seconds to win sydney to hobart.

LawConnect has won the 2023 Sydney to Hobart line honours in incredible fashion, in what was the second closest finish ever.

The 100-foot supermaxi sailed into Hobart harbour just after 8am on Thursday, 51 seconds ahead of Andoo Comanche.

The closest recorded finish to the race was in 1982, when Condor Of Bermuda beat Apollo by just seven seconds.

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The race came down to the wire as the two superyachts duelled over the final few miles, and LawConnect made up significant ground to overtake and then beat Andoo Comanche before the line.

Andoo Comanche had led by as much as four kilometres only half an hour earlier. Andoo Comanche was the reigning champion.

LawConnect (left) and Andoo Comanche go down to the wire in the 2023 Sydney to Hobart.  Nine

LawConnect and its owner Christian Beck had been runner-up in the race the past three years.

The yacht was first out of Sydney harbour, while Andoo Comanche ran into trouble and almost collided with fellow supermaxi Scallywag, which was forced to retire six hours later.

LawConnect wins the 2023 event in one day, 19 hours, three minutes and 58 seconds. Andoo Comanche took one day, 19 hours, four minutes and 49 seconds to complete the 628-nautical mile course.

Earlier, Beck had spoken as his yacht attempted to chase down Andoo Comanche, who several media outlets had already declared the line honours winner.

"You can watch where they go, and if they go slow, we go somewhere else," Beck told the broadcast.

The LawConnect crew celebrates winning the 2023 Sydney to Hobart.  Nine

"We've come second three times in a row, so we really want to win...we're obviously happy to be in the Derwent too, but we'd like to be a little closer to Comanche."

LawConnect was flying a protest flag as it crossed the finish line, which confused spectators.

Sailing master Tony Mutter later explained the crew were protesting Andoo Comanche, but may not follow through with it.

"We did notify the race committee that we were flying a protest flag... for an incident during the race that we thought affected our performance," Mutter said.

"We slowed down for half an hour… on standby for a boat we thought was in distress.

"There was no intent on their part to create that problem...we're not suggesting that at all."

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Dramatic start to Sydney to Hobart yacht race with close calls and wild weather

• Fleet sets off on Boxing Day in 78th edition of bluewater classic
• Andoo Comanche takes lead with eye on back-to-back line honours
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Line honours favourite Andoo Comanche has taken the lead in the Sydney to Hobart after a dramatic start to the revered yacht race.

Comanche, the 2022 line honours winner, was travelling 28 miles off the coast of Port Kembla, south of Wollongong, when she overtook LawConnect roughly three-and-a-half hours into the race.

LawConnect, last year’s runner-up and a fellow 100-foot supermaxi, had taken an early lead out of the Sydney Heads, and later remained in hot pursuit of leader Comanche as they travelled at roughly 19 knots in northeasterly winds.

The two frontrunners have opened up a gap on third-placed supermaxi SHK Scallywag, which was about four miles behind Comanche when she passed LawConnect.

In-form 72-footer URM Group, along with Moneypenny and 2018 overall winner Alive – all contenders for handicap honours – appeared best-placed of the smaller boats.

Four hours into the race, the fleet remained at 103 boats – the same number that crossed the start line in Sydney Harbour.

Scallywag had earlier completed a 720-degree penalty turn in a bid to avoid a possible time sanction.

Accusing Scallywag of tacking too close, Comanche’s crew could be heard on broadcast coverage yelling to their rivals before formally flying a red protest flag.

The boats appeared to come within metres of each other.

The fact the incident had taken place in Sydney Harbour meant Scallywag had only a limited distance in which to complete the penalty turns, or risk receiving a time sanction on arrival in Hobart.

In 2017, Wild Oats XI opted not to respond to a protest from Comanche early in the race and a subsequent one-hour time penalty cost her a line honours victory.

Race officials confirmed Scallywag completed the turn off the coast of Bondi Beach.

After a heavy storm cleared just before the 1pm starting gun, LawConnect led the way across the line then made the best of a change in the wind to pass the heads first.

But when a furling line snapped after LawConnect passed the first marker out of the Sydney Heads, she turned towards the spectator fleet in an attempt to correct the issue. The furling line issue has since been fixed.

The fleet is expected to encounter stormy conditions south of Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast.

Sudden and erratic wind changes, hail, rain and reduced visibility are all on the cards across the first two days of racing.

Easterly winds as strong as 35 knots are forecast for the far south coast of NSW on the night of Boxing Day and could impact the bigger boats in the fleet.

Winds are forecast to remain strong across the Bass Strait and southeast Tasmania on the morning of December 28, with storms a chance to continue affecting smaller boats.

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

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.”

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

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.

By Andrew Mcgarry

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

Wrapping things up...

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):

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.   

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:

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

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...

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.

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 ...

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.

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ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE: DEFINED BY AN INTREPID SPIRIT AND CAMARADERIE

Geneva, 23 December 2021 - The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race holds a towering status in the world of sailing. It captures the attention of a nation and enjoys a glowing international reputation that has long transcended the traditional boundaries of the sport. Rolex has partnered this legendary competition and its organizers, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), since 2002.

Over its three-quarters of a century history, the race has provided a platform for human achievement and endeavour, qualities that align with Rolex's core philosophy and which underpin the Swiss watchmaker's more than 60-year involvement in yachting. The 76th edition is scheduled for the traditional lunchtime start on 26 December, with a fleet of more than 90 yachts expected to take on the famous 628-nautical mile (1,010 kilometres) course.

Some 60,000 sailors and 7,000 yachts have taken part in the race since its inception in 1945. From its beginnings, competitors have been drawn to the scale and unpredictability of the challenge, and to the demands on their skills in both preparing and handling their yacht.

After a spectacular departure from Sydney Harbour, the fleet heads south along the New South Wales coast of the Tasman Sea before crossing Bass Strait to tackle the east coast of Tasmania, Storm Bay and the final 12-nm (22 km) stretch in the often decisive, and sometimes cruel, Derwent River, before finishing in Hobart. Most entrants spend four to five days at sea. Watch systems and resources need to be managed assiduously. To negotiate the testing conditions requires willpower, experience and intuition.

Sir Ben Ainslie, a Rolex Testimonee, four-time Olympic gold medallist and helm of the Great Britain SailGP Team, is a past competitor and says: The experience gave me a real appreciation of the sailing prowess and camaraderie inherent in offshore racing, especially within the Corinthian boats taking two or three times as long and being not quite as comfortable as the maxis. A neat part of these races is the fact that handicap means, whatever the size of boat, everyone has a chance to win. The weather plays a part but smaller amateur-sailed boats often win against the professionals.

Winning the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race overall after time correction and securing the coveted Tattersall Cup guarantees a place in yachting folklore. Matt Allen's Ichi Ban has won two of the past three editions, in 2017 and 2019. Should the Australian boat emerge victorious again, she will join two of the race's most celebrated names, Freya (1963, 1964, 1965) and Love & War (1974, 1978, 2006), on three victories.

Beyond the competition to win overall, the consistent presence of some of the world's most impressive 100-foot (30.5 metre) Maxi yachts has produced epic contests in the battle to be first across the finish line. The race record currently stands at 33 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds, set by  Comanche  in 2017. Arriving in Hobart inside two days, a marker first set in 1999, has been achieved in each of the past four editions.

The Rolex Sydney Hobart attracts both professional and Corinthian sailors. Leaders from the political, business and entertainment worlds, as well as stars from other sports, have been drawn to participate. This all adds to the race’s appeal, which is already bolstered by a distinctive position in the sailing calendar and the pioneering feats of those who have confronted its many obstacles over the years. Matt Allen, a former Commodore of the CYCA, spent decades trying to win the event as a skipper. His story is one of persistence, of the time it can take to acquire the experience and knowledge to succeed. Having completed his 30th race to Hobart in 2019, he remarked:

“Over the years, I’ve seen amazing boats participate but it’s actually the people that  make this race and ocean racing what they are.”

Intrepid human spirit lies at the heart of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race’s creation and remains its foundation today. Rolex is proud to support a sporting contest that mirrors the brand’s own Perpetual spirit: humbly adapting to the elements, constantly seeking to improve and summoning one’s deepest resources.

A NATURAL AND SUPPORTIVE PARTNER Rolex has always associated with activities driven by passion, excellence, precision and team spirit. The Swiss watchmaker naturally gravitated towards the elite world of yachting six decades ago and the brand's enduring partnership now encompasses the most prestigious clubs, races and regattas, as well as towering figures in the sport, including ground-breaking round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester and the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, Sir Ben Ainslie. Today, Rolex is Title Sponsor of 15 major international events - from leading offshore races such as the annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race, to grand prix competition at the Rolex TP52 World Championship and spectacular gatherings at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and the Rolex Swan Cup. It also supports the exciting SailGP global championship in which national teams race identical supercharged F50 catamarans on some of the world's most famous harbours. Rolex's partnerships with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, New York Yacht Club and Royal Yacht Squadron, among others, are the foundation of its enduring relationship with this dynamic sport.

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Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2024

Entries open for 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

• 15 Jun, 2021 12:42:00 PM

Excitement is building for the return of the historic Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, with entries now open for the 2021 edition of ocean racing’s ‘Everest’.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) has launched the Notice of Race and is now welcoming eligible crews from across Australia and abroad to secure their place in the fleet. 

The eyes of the world will once again turn to Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day – Sunday 26 December 2021.

Following the disappointing cancellation of the 2020 Rolex Sydney Hobart due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CYCA Commodore Noel Cornish AM is looking forward to the Great Race.

"It is my great pleasure to announce the 2021 Notice of Race as the first step in our build-up to the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race," said Commodore Cornish.

"It is our hope that the Great Race will once again bring together a large group of dedicated and passionate sailors from across Australia and around the world.

"We look forward to working with our many long-term partners to bring the Race to life this year and extend special thanks to our close friends at Rolex and The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania in particular for their extraordinary contributions.

"Thank you to everyone who supported the CYCA during 2020.”

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was first conducted in 1945 and has become an icon of summer sport in Australia.

The CYCA has enjoyed a rich partnership with naming rights sponsor Rolex since 2002 and is pleased to again be supported by the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer.  

For the first time in its history, the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart will feature Two-Handed crews. 

The increasingly popular division joined the CYCA’s sailing calendar in 2019 and was due to be included in the 2020 Race. 

The Notice of Race and online entry is now available under the   ‘For Competitors’   section.

Entries close   Thursday 28 October 2021. 

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

PHOTOS | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Official Prizegiving

PHOTOS | Day 5 Morning - Tasman Island and Storm Bay

PHOTOS | Day 5 and Day 6 finishers

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

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

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

VIDEO | Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

VIDEO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Official Prizegiving

VIDEO | Race Update - 31 December Morning

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 10

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 9

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 8

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 7

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 6

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!