Kathy Veel and Bridget Canham will sail Veel’s Currawong 30, named Currawong (the second smallest boat in the fleet), in the Two-Handed Division of the race. Veel sailed the yacht two-handed from Melbourne to Sydney and has owned small yachts and sailed short-handed since her twenties. She was on Christine Evans’ Belles Long Ranger crew in 1989; only the second all-female crew to contest the Hobart. Her next was on Kerry Goudge’s all-female crew in 1992 (Women on Water). Bridget Canham joined Goudge‘s all-female crews for the 1993 and 1994 races and sailed her last Hobart in 2019. The two learned from Goudge to never give up, to finish the race – and they lived up to that in November’s Bird Island Race, finishing last on line for fifth in the Two-Handed Division, when so many others pulled out. They are the first female two-handed crew to compete in the race.

Currawong is the first Joubert Currawong 30 out of the mould in 1973. Commissioned by Will Burrows and launched in 1974, she is a sistership to the famous 1981 Hobart winner, Zeus II. A major refit was begun in 2016 and has continued this year, by Veel, with a focus on preparing for the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Related Videos

Watch a 2023 interview with co-skipper Kathy Veel