A global attraction

• NEWS
• 16 Nov, 2022 03:39:00 PM

A global attraction

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has a truly international flavour once again in 2022, with boats travelling from Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Hungary, New Caledonia, New Zealand and the USA to compete in what is described as bucket list item for sailors around the world.

With the Australian border reopened, the Rolex Sydney Hobart is back on the agenda for boat owners based overseas.

Among them are Axel and Peter Baumgartner’s Grand Soleil 45 Orione from Germany, Tom Kneen’s JPK 1180 Sunrise from Great Britain, Geoff Hill’s Santa Cruz 72 Antipodes, which is registered at Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and competed in the 2022 New Caledonia Groupama Race, Cassiopeia 68, a Marten 68 from Hungary, two Sydney 38s from New Caledonia – Eye Candy and Poulpito – Max Klink’s Botin 52 Caro, based out of Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, and American Chris Sheehan’s TP52 Warrior Won.

We caught up with three of the international contenders looking to make their mark in the race.

A warrior mentality

Chris Sheehan and the crew on his Pac 52 Warrior Won are riding a wave of success.

In less than a year, Warrior Won claimed overall wins in the Transpac Race, RORC Caribbean 600 and Newport Bermuda Race.

Now the owner and skipper is targeting another jewel in the crown of ocean racing – the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Sheehan last raced the Rolex Sydney Hobart in 2017 on his previous Warrior Won, an XP44.

A return to the race was always on the cards for Sheehan after purchasing the 52-footer, with the Australian race part of a global campaign which will also see Warrior Won feature in the Rolex Fastnet Race and Rolex Middle Sea Race next year.

“I always want to enter events where I’m in way over my head and I’m stacked up against the best competition in the world,” Sheehan said from his home in Larchmont, New York.

“I want to go all over the world and compete at the highest level possible against the best ocean racing teams.

“I want to see if in fact I am able to surround myself with a team of professional sailors who I can motivate, keep focused and work alongside to beat these other completely refined, legendary professional programmes. That’s my hobby in life, to travel the world with this boat and see if I can beat them all.”

So far, so good.

Sheehan has assembled a diverse team of international competitors. His crew members hail from Australia, Canada, USA, Antigua, Spain and Ireland.

Among them are five-time Canadian Olympian Richard Clarke, boat captain/project manager Collin Leon, veteran navigator Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Postigo, Scott Ewing – a former member of the United States Sail GP team – and renowned Australian Ben Lamb.

Sheehan is meticulous in his preparations and has long had one eye on the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

“We trained all summer here [in the US] with Hobart in mind,” he said. “We’d get out our IRC sails and do a whole lot of optimisation testing with our IRC set-up.

“We create a sail chart that becomes bullet proof, so we know what to do in every single situation.

“We get really good data that alleviates a lot of guess work. Every half hour or 45-minute increment in a Hobart race, we’ll know exactly what sail combination we should have up and also who should be driving, because we know who our best drivers are in different conditions.

“We’ll go out and do 75 gybes in a day, because even though we’re professional, we know we don’t have it down to an exact science.

“We leave very little to chance. Control the controllables, because there are so many uncontrollables.”

This is a relentless pursuit of success for Sheehan and Warrior Won.

They’re determined to add the Tattersall Cup to their packed trophy cabinet.

“People say ‘if everyone is having fun, you’re going to sail fast’. No, you can only have one objective and the objective is to win. Winning is fun. Fun is spelt W-I-N,” Sheehan said with a smile you can hear through the phone.

“I always say to my team – ‘you’re not my friend. I’m sailing with you because you’re a damn good sailor and if sh*t goes down, I know I can rely on you’.”

Klink returns with prime challenger Caro

Warrior Won isn’t the only 52-footer surrounded by plenty of hype heading to Australia.

Caro is a Botin 52 owned and skippered by Swiss Max Klink, registered in Auckland with Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and sailing under a Cayman Islands flag.

Klink only launched the boat in 2021, but Caro has shown plenty of early promise with a fourth-place finish overall in the 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race, 11th in the 2021 Rolex Middle Sea Race and victory at the 2022 Australian Yachting Championships.

The elite crew on Caro will travel from Ireland, USA, Great Britain, New Zealand, France and Switzerland, with Volvo Ocean Race veterans among them, including Justin Ferris and navigator Jules Salter.

“We have been sailing with the core group for 8-9 years now,” Klink said. “Apart from them being some of the best sailors in the world, it is very important that we all get along well. There are no egos and a very coherent team.

“The boat and crew so far have done very well. We are still learning about the boat and we’re excited to line-up against the fleet of 52s in Australia, which is very strong and provides some great racing.”

Klink raced his former Caro, a Botin 65, in the 2014 Rolex Sydney Hobart, finishing third in Division 0.

In 2019 he decided to build a pure racing boat and that’s certainly what he’s got with Caro.

Klink knows it’s going to be an enthralling battle between the 52s in this year’s race and perfection is essential to victory.

“Our boat seems to have been competitive in all conditions we’ve had so far,” he said. “But if I can make a wish for December, it would certainly include very little upwind and lots of running conditions.

“It’s very hard to get the edge on this fleet of 52s. They’re all very good boats and strong crews.

“You need to sail almost without any errors to be on top. So, we are very humble and will try to prepare the boat well to avoid any damage or failure.

“It is a highly competitive race with a lot of very good crews and boats. We’re very excited to be part of it, but it will be very tough racing!"

A new horizon for Sunrise

Tom Kneen is heading down under from Great Britain with a predominantly Corinthian crew on Sunrise.

The JPK 1180 is tipped to challenge for Overall honours, fuelled by her consistency in major offshore races recently.

It’s been a whirlwind year for Kneen and his crew. Sunrise made the sailing world take notice in August 2021 by claiming a famous win in the Rolex Fastnet Race.

“It was a life changing event for us,” said Kneen. “It’s everything you expect it to be and more in terms of the consequences.

“I still walk into my living room and see the Fastnet Challenge Cup sitting there and think ‘why is that there?!

“People do dream about winning that race and we did. Also, I did it with my mates. I didn’t go and spend a million quid on a boat optimised to win the race and hire 15 professionals to do it.

“We did it with people I’d met in bars in the south coast of England over the last few years!”

Sunrise backed up that result impressively in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, finishing second overall having been in pole position before the unprecedented invoking of an alternative finish line for safety reasons.

Kneen and co. then won their division in the RORC Caribbean 600.

World-renowned sailor Dave Swete is the only pro on board Sunrise and the owner is delighted with the crew he’s curated.

“The boat is epic. It has been constantly improved by this rather obsessive crew,” Kneen said. “We know that if we sail well, we’re competitive.

“The crew coming together at the right time made a huge difference to our performance.

“I’ve concluded that it’s my job to identify who the best people are and put them in an environment where they can do what they’re best at.

“The team is completely emotionally involved in the project and do it for fun.

“That’s what’s really special, it’s because they love it. That sets us apart from pro teams.”

This will be Kneen’s first trip to Australia and most of his crew will compete in the Rolex Sydney Hobart for the first time.

Although he believes it’s “probably unreasonable” to think Sunrise can mix it with the 52-footers, he’s allowing himself to dream big.

The international contingent is certainly primed to shake up the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart.