KLC Bengal 7

Bengal 7 returns to the Rolex Sydney Hobart having first sailed from Japan to Sydney for the 2012 race and finished an excellent 12th overall and sixth in Division 1. Launched in October 2010, the boat features an all-carbon hull and hydraulically operated lifting keel. The former Oystercatcher XXVIII competed in her maiden regatta at Okinawa-Tokai Yacht Race in May 2012 and claimed line honours and overall victory. She will again be skippered by owner, Yoshihiko Murase, a gynaecologist who runs the Kanayama Lady's Clinic in Japan, hence the KLC in front of Bengal 7. An experienced ocean racer, Murase competed in the Melbourne/Osaka Double-handed yacht race in 1991 and 1995, with a former yacht named Bengal. He has also competed in six consecutive Transpacific Yacht Races since 2001.

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