Ruthean, skippered by Vic Toll, is Lake Macquarie's entrant in this years race. A Laurent Giles design, launched in Hobart in 1952, she has already competed three times in 1952, 1953 and 1958. She came twelfth in her first two races and last year had to withdraw due to a broken backstay on the second night out. The gap between the races was due to a sandbar that prevented her from leaving her home lake, but this has since been dredged and the owner has once again accepted the challenge of the Sydney to Hobart race. A characteristic Laurent-Gilles design, she sports a yawl rig that should be easily recognised.