Skip to main content
Time to race start
00 days
:
00 hrs
:
00 min
:
00 sec

Accepting your fate - in Love & War

Home 2025 Accepting your fate - in Love & War

Article Image

For the past two days, Simon Kurts’ beautiful classic yacht, Love & War, hung in the top 10 boats, leading the Rolex Sydney Hobart at times, the only fully crewed yacht among a bevy of double handed boats in the race to win Overall honours for the Tattersall Cup.

news
—

Time & Date: 30/12/2025 –1800 (101 hours after the start)  

However, it was not to be, 55th over the line has Love & War, a 1973 built S&S 47, currently in third place overall and second in Division 6, behind the double handed boat Min River, second in IRC Corinthian and is in the top spot in the IRC Grand Veteran division. 

Love & War en route to the finish - ROLEX/Andrea Francolini pic.

Neither Simon Kurts or his son Phil was able to sail the 80th race, but Simon is in Hobart and was anxiously waiting to see if his yacht could be the first to win the race an unprecedented four times. Love & War was the second of three yachts to win the race three times Overall – 1974, 1978 (when owned and skippered by Simon’s father, Peter) and 2006.  

Unable to be aboard in 2006, Simon loaned the boat to Lindsay May. It looked likely a repeat was on the cards this year – a win without a Kurts on the boat – and they came oh so close. 

This time, Simon left the boat in the capable hands of his friend Stephen McCullum, known to mates as ‘Rowdy’. Another mate, Paddy Broughton, was navigator. The two have sailed Love & War to Hobart with Simon and/or Phil in recent years. Aboard too, doing her first Hobart, was Grace Shipway, the daughter of race commentator Peter Shipway.  

Grace was given the honour of steering the boat over the finish line, while her father was aboard for Love & War’s first two Sydney Hobart wins. 

Simon was too emotional to speak this afternoon, but it was clear he was proud of his boat and the crew. He left the words to McCullum and Broughton. 

“We did well. We did some things brilliantly. You just can’t know everything.” 

McCullum, the immediate past Commodore of Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, the finishing partner of the race, said dockside this afternoon, “It was so close. It was a fantastic race. We had conditions we knew would give us a good chance. The transitions were tricky. It was hard graft keeping up with them.”  

Love & War leaving Sydney Heads - ROLEX/Andrea Francolini pic.

The hardest parts of the 628 nautical mile race? It was challenging coming up to Tasman Island from Freycinet. Last night we had running conditions and the second night was full on, but the boat was built for that and she handled it beautifully.” 

Two places in front of Love & War in the Line Honours stakes was Sumatra, the pretty Nautor Swan 48 owned by Shane Diethelm and Peter Vanderwal. Like Love & War, she represents the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, organiser of the race. 

Sumatra is presently placed 25th Overall and is in the top spot in the Cruiser/Racer division. 

Sumatra powering away - ROLEX/Andrea Francolini pic.

Diethelm said they had a great race. “I look back and think we could have done better, but I was super stoked, because we only put the campaign together in a year. Our navigator (Malcolm Roe) did a really good job. I sailed with Malcolm in the Rolex Middle Sea Race earlier this year.” 

On the good side of things, Diethelm said, “We saw lots of dolphins, albatrosses, flying fish and whales. And it was Sumatra’s first Hobart. I thought it went fast, but then I’ve cruised on the boat around the world.” 

All smiles on board Sumatra in Hobart - Sumatra pic.

On the bad side, he said, “It was pretty wild the first two nights – it’s a bit surprising that everyone made it through. And we ran out of gas. But then we did have a microwave,” he finished, laughing.  

Di Pearson/RSHYR media