This is the first time to the Rolex Sydney Hobart start line for Esprit, a Wauquiez C45 design from France. However, it is not a first for her owner, ex-army colonel Rod West, who contested the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart with a Beneteau First 44.7, Another Painkiller, which won him the 2019 Southport Yacht Club Offshore Club Champion title. They finished the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart 87^th after placing 60^th in 2017. Otherwise, West usually confines racing to his home club where the yachtsman is known as a consistently solid performer.