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Super maxis head fleet of 120

Super maxis head fleet of 120
On the way to Hobart

Super maxis head fleet of 120

The biggest fleet to contest the 628 nautical mile race since the 50th event in 1994 includes yachts and sailors from all Australian States and overseas from Britain, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the USA

The two 30-metre (98-feet) super maxis that fought out the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Skandia and Konica Minolta (ex Zana), along with the yet-to-be-launched 27.38m (90-feet) Nicorette, will head up the 120 boat fleet nominated for this year’s 60th anniversary race.

The biggest fleet to contest the 628 nautical mile race since the 50th event in 1994 includes yachts and sailors from all Australian States and overseas representing Britain, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the USA. 

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia announced the fleet today at its clubhouse on Sydney Harbour, but has extended the deadline for applications to enter the ocean classic until this Friday, November 12.

The line-up of state-of-the-art ocean racers reflects the impact that the Rolex Sydney Hobart has had on the development of yacht design and construction, on sail design and sail-making, and on yacht equipment, from winches to navigation systems.

The 60th Race also underlines the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s role as a world leader in improved safety equipment, crew training, navigation and maritime communications (in which it has been a world leader since the earliest Sydney Hobart races). 

A race-proven innovation has been the Yacht Tracker system which allows each yacht to be plotted in real time throughout the race and this information made available via the award-winning official website – www.rolexsydneyhobart.com

Another innovation will be the use for the first time this year of a wireless broadband service – iBurst – by race management and for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race media operations.

Yachting commentators are predicting another great TransTasman duel between Grant Wharington’s Skandia, which beat New Zealander Stewart Thwaites’ Zana to Hobart last year by a mere 14 minutes at the end of a 628 nautical mile match race.

Skandia, then the world’s biggest racing yacht with a canting keel, continued its winning ways through most of this year although it was finally beaten by the Kiwi super maxi now called Konica Minolta, in three of seven races at the Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island.  

Since then Skandia has raced in the Hong Kong to Vietnam ocean race, taking line honours in record time, while Konica Minolta sailed back to Wellington to be fitted with a bowsprit and have her water ballast system made more efficient.  Early plans to fit a canting keel were put on hold as this may have put her rating above the IRC upper limit as she has a taller mast and carrying bigger working sails than Skandia.

The new Nicorette will also feature the triple foil system, designed by South Africa-based Simonis/Voogd.  While the carbon fibre hull is all new, owner Ludde Ingvall has used the deck and fittings from his old Nicorette for the new 90-footer with the  yacht to be launched shortly at the historic Woolwich Dock on the upper reaches of Sydney Harbour.

A rather fascinating but as yet untried entry is Aspen 1, described as a “sled 78” by Queensland owner Martin Wotton.  The hull was originally that of a Volvo 60, which has been extended by 18-feet.

George Snow’s famous Brindabella is back again for her 12th Hobart Race, with Snow still basking in the glory of breaking the 18-year-old record for the Cabbage Tree Island Race last weekend off the NSW Central Coast.

Snapping at the transoms of the maxis will again be Sean Langman’s much modified, much re-painted and often re-named Open 66, AAPT.  Often described as a “skiff on steroids” she raced to Hobart last year as AAPT Grundig, finishing third astern of the super maxis. In 2002 she gave Alfa Romeo a great run for her money to the finish line.

Grand prix interest this year goes well beyond the super maxis, among both international and Australian yacht owners, with a number of new boats and new owners of former champion yachts.

Heading the international entries is Aera, a Ker 55 from Great Britain, to be skippered by Jez Fanstone, the former Volvo Challenge skipper.  Aera was second top-scoring boat in the 2003 Admiral’s Cup in England to Bob Oatley’s Reichel/Pugh-designed 60-footer Wild Oats, which pioneered canting keels in ocean racing.  Area recently won the Rolex Big Boat Series held in San Francisco in September.

The two boats will meet again in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, with the Admiral’s Cup champion now racing as Wild Joe, owned by Steven David and to be skippered in the 60th Rolex Sydney Hobart by America’s Cup skipper and designer Iain Murray.  To comply with CYCA regulations, the yacht has undergone changes that will limit the degree of cant achieved by her foil system, but still promises to be a formidable opponent.

German yachtsman Felix Scheder Bieschin is building a Marten 49 in Auckland, to be named Vineta in a bid repeat the success of another German yacht, Raptor, which won the 50th Sydney Hobart Race in 1994. Designed by Reichel/Pugh, the Marten 49 is described as a fast sports cruising boat and is built in carbon fibre with foam cores.

Scheder-Bieschin is an experienced ocean-racing yachtsman who has competed in three Fastnet Races, three Trans - Atlantics and a Buenos Aires to Rio Race. 

Several overseas crews from the USA and Britain are chartering local boats, including Sydney 38s, a Volvo 60 and a Beneteau 47.7.

On the local scene, Michael Spies, the skipper of the 2003 overall winner, the Beneteau 40.7, First National Real Estate, launched a new Beneteau 44.7 in late September with the same sponsor and same name.  As he did with his previous boat, Spies will optimise the boat in a bid to achieve the rare honour of back-to-back Overall wins for the Tattersalls Cup.

Among his rivals will be another recently launched 44.7, Prime Time, owned by David Mason with world champion sailor Neville Wittey as his sailing master/tactician. 

In last weekend’s Cabbage Tree Island Race, First National Real Estate beat Prime Time around the 180 nautical mile course by six minutes, taking first place on IRC corrected time while Prime Time had to be content with sixth place.

In Melbourne, highly competitive Sandringham Yacht Club Commodore Phil Coombs has a newly imported DK46, Dekadence, which made its offshore debut in the Melbourne to Stanley Race two weeks ago.

In Adelaide, Geoff Boettcher has just launched a new Secret Mens Business; a Reichel/Pugh 46 built in Melbourne by Mal Hart, the builder of Skandia. The boat features a trim tab to improve its windward performance.

A feature of this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart will be one-design racing between a record 12 Sydney 38s, including the Melbourne University student team with an average age of 21.  Skippered by Chris Lewin, they have chartered the former Australian champion Sydney 38, Another Challenge, from Lou Abrahams who has a new Sydney 38, Challenge, on order to sail in his 42nd Sydney Hobart Race.

The Sydney 38s will be competing for the re-dedicated One Ton Trophy, a plaque, which many outstanding One Ton class yachts raced for in the 1970’s.

Another veteran yachtsman skippering a new boat (that is for him) is Hobart yachtsman John Bennetto, who has bought Quest, the Nelson/Marek 46, which Bob Steel campaigned so successfully, including winning the 2002 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the 2003 Australian IRC Offshore Championship. 

Bennetto this year will be sailing in his 44th Sydney Hobart, the record for this event.  His first race was back in 1947 and he is determined to win the race before he hangs up his sailbag.

Although in his late 70s, Bennetto will not be the oldest skipper racing this year.  Middle Harbour yachtsman John Walker, now 82, is again skippering his Peterson 3