King Billy

Built from King Billy Pine and designed by Australian John King, Phil Bennett’s boat is ideally named. She contested the 50^th Hobart in 1994, placing fourth in Division F, finished 50^th overall in 1995, and along with the multitude, retired from the 1998 race. Returning for the 2015 Rolex Sydney Hobart, Bennett said: “After the ’98 race, my wife cancelled my license to go south, but it has been reinstated for this one, provided the weather doesn’t look like a repeat of 1998.” Before heading off, this lovely wooden boat benefitted from her builder, Andrew Hay, giving her a thorough going over and she finished 14^th overall and second in the Corinthian Division, after leading their Division overall for the first day. King Billy won Division 3 IRC in the 2018 Ponant Sydney Noumea race. Mrs Bennett has obviously given her husband the nod to return for the 75^th Sydney Hobart. You can’t do the 50^th and not the 75^th, now can you?

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