Bruce Tardrew is an Australian who lived in Papua New Guinea for a period and was its leading yachtsman in the seventies. Early in life, Tardrew won in a variety of classes from Lasers to VJ’s and Lightweight Sharpies.

He left Victoria for PNG in 1973 and organised the charter of three Victorian yachts in 1975 for PNG Southern Cross Cup team, including racing in the Hobart and skippering Apollo II. Tardrew returned in 1976 with Obsession. This time, it’s with Yendys, launched for Geoff Ross in 2006. She has since been known as Rodd & Gunn Wedgetail and Wedgetail. She last went to Hobart in 2014 as Wedgetail, owned then by Bill Wild.

This RP55 is a great yacht that scored her best Hobart results during the Ross years, with sixth, seventh and fifth overall in 2006, ’07 and ’08 respectively. Wild also scored sixth in 2010.