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Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
COMING SOON
18 March, 2026
View Results

Home Race 1990 Recap

1990 Race Recap

Sagacious V in Storm Bay - 1990 Sydney Hobart

Gary Appleby's Sagacious V, Overall Winner in 1990

Nortel Sydney-Hobart 1990

High winds, fast reaches, exhausting windward work, controversy on the dock and a brilliant IOR win by Sagacious V - the Nortel Sydney-Hobart Race 1990 had everything but a new record.  In the midst of the deepening recession a respectable fleet of 106 yachts set sail in a good south easterly breeze that made a fast start down the Harbour under spinnakers.

The first casualties came within hours of the start, when two new half-tonners were dismasted and the drop-out continued the next day as the fleet powered down wind under spinnakers, as the wind swung to the nor'east, freshening to more than 30 knots, with some yachts reporting gusts of 50 knots.

In Bass Strait the maxi Rothmans ran into a vicious low, which had earlier played havoc with the fleet setting sail in the races from Melbourne to Devonport and Hobart, giving them a two sail reach in 35 knot westerlies.  However, in the lee of the Tasmanian east coast the winds eased away and Rothman's chance of a race record disappeared.  She finally crossed the line with an elapsed time of 2 days, 19 hours, 7 minutes and 2 seconds, the third fastest time in 46 years.

However, Rothman's line honours position, and her provisional overall second place on corrected time, was not to stand.  The Race Committee penalised the British yacht 10% of placings on corrected time and stripped her of the line honours award for breaching Rule 26 (advertising) by flying a spinnaker with an illegal advertising logo on it.  As a result Ragamuffin was awarded line honours, and first place overall on IOR corrected times went to Sagacious V.

Race Program

Prior to each race Cruising Yacht Club of Australia publishes a separate official race program (with details of competing boats, the results of past races and articles about the race and its participants and other important events).  The 1990 Edition is here.

Race reports

After each race, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's magazine Offshore contains photo galleries, reports and articles on the race.  Read on to access them.

February / March 1991 Offshore - see pages 6 to 27