sydney to hobart yachts 2022

Andoo Comanche takes out Sydney to Hobart as supermaxi makes race history

Australian supermaxi Andoo Comanche secured a fourth line honours victory in the gruelling Sydney-Hobart ocean race Wednesday, but fell short of setting a new course record.

The 100-foot yacht, skippered by John Winning Jnr, triumphed in a nail-biting finish in the early hours of Wednesday after leading the blue water classic for much of the race.

It completed a quartet of line honours wins for the boat in the prestigious event since 2015 under a third different owner.

Andoo Comanche crossed with a time of one day, 11 hours, 56 minutes and 48 seconds -- about 20 minutes in front of rival supermaxi Law Connect -- and just under three hours short of its own record.

The current race record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds was set by the same Comanche boat under a different skipper in 2017.

Winning Jnr was part of the team that won the event in 2016, but said it was something special to skipper his own crew.

“To do it in a campaign that I was part of putting together is really quite exceptional,” he told national broadcaster ABC.

Last year’s defending champion Black Jack crossed third, followed by Wild Oats, which fell behind after tearing one of its sails earlier in the race.

The 109-strong racing fleet set off from a sun-splashed Sydney Harbour on Monday afternoon, charting their way through the 628-nautical mile course (1163km) to Hobart.

Favourable weather early in the race raised the prospect of toppling that mark, but the strong winds faded as the boats barrelled towards the finish line in Hobart.

The Bass Strait, which separates Tasmania from the mainland, can unleash perilous conditions.

A deep depression proved catastrophic for the fleet in 1998, when six sailors were killed and 55 more were rescued after five boats sank.

Race officials on Tuesday evening said only three of the starting fleet had been forced to retire so far.

One of them, 40-foot yacht Yeah Baby, withdrew less than four hours into the race after reportedly colliding with a massive sunfish.

Dozens of smaller yachts were still in the water Wednesday morning, competing for the handicap prize, which compensates for boat size.

READ BELOW FOR A FULL WRAP OF ALL THE ACTION FROM THE RACE!

Comanche held a consistent lead of 20 nautical miles throughout the afternoon as it moved towards the Derwent with LawConnect telling the Nine papers they expect to arrive at Constitution Dock in Hobart at around 2am AEDT.

As darkness neared, Wild Oats XI fell back into fourth having suffered sail damage overnight while reigning line honours winner Black Jack was third, some five nautical miles behind LawConnect.

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Comanche led the fleet into Bass Strait in the early morning, but slipping well behind LDV Comanche’s race record from 2017. Three of the four supermaxis (100-plus-footers) ran well east of the rhumbline to take advantage of marginally stronger winds, before turning back towards the coast of Tasmania around midday.

There were two retirements on the first day, with two-hander Avalanche the first to pull back to shore with a damaged bowsprit after a collision with Llama II just outside the Sydney Heads. Llama II escaped with only superficial damage.

Yeah Baby then retired in the evening after sustaining rudder damage near Wollongong due to a collision with a sunfish, but returned safely to Sydney.

Koa then became the third retirement after breaking her rudder, and is set to be towed to Eden on the NSW south coast, leaving 106 yachts still in the race. Enterprise Next Generation put in a request for redress after helping their stricken rival.

WILD OATS COPS DAMAGE OVERNIGHT

Hamilton Island Wild Oats came within 0.3 nautical miles of Black Jack around 2am overnight in the hunt for third position, before Black Jack surged in the early morning.

The pair traded positions throughout the day, with Wild Oats taking a line significantly closer to rhumbline.

It followed a wild start where both Comanche and Wild Oats were forced to take penalty turns following a series of near-misses in Sydney Harbour (more below).

Wild Oats - hunting a record tenth line honours win - then suffered damage to one of their two largest sails overnight.

Their veteran crewman Chris Links told NewsLocal a seam across one of their large downwind sails split, requiring running repairs on deck.

“It is not an easy job,’’ Links said.

“It has a cable in it and we had to do the repair on deck.

“It took around one and a half hours to repair.’’

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Watch live on-board action from LawConnect below.

WILD START CAUSES CHAOS

“Protest, get the flag up, that was f***ing bull***t,” someone yelled on Andoo Comanche in the first two minutes after being cut off by rival supermaxis LawConnect and Black Jack.

URM and LawConnect were also “inches” away from crashing into each other, according to URM skipper Ashley-Jones.

Less than a minute later, one of the crew was heard barking: “you’re asking for a clusterf***, we’re going to be in a collision,” and labelled one rival a “f***ing idiot”.

Comanche hit a turning mark as it exited the heads and was later spotted flying a protest flag of their own, after another boat protested them.

On Wild Oats, which took two penalty turns, skipper Mark Richards could be heard yelling “furl, furl, we are going to do a 720 (penalty turn)”.

Wild Oats famously lost the win in 2017 upon arrival in Hobart, after being handed a one-hour penalty for a rule breach over an incident with Comanche.

That race saw the record time set, with 2022’s Comanche roughly eight nautical miles behind the 2017 edition’s pace late on Monday night and falling further back overnight.

EARLY RACE UPDATES AND PREVIEW (via AFP)

More than 100 yachts set sail Monday on the Sydney-Hobart race as favourable winds raised hopes for a record time in one of the world’s most punishing ocean events.

Fans gathered at coastal vantage points and on spectator boats in a sun-splashed Sydney Harbour, which hours earlier had been shrouded in a thick fog that halted all ferry traffic.

The starting cannon fired to release 109 yachts on the 628-nautical mile (1,200-kilometre) blue water classic.

Crews dashed to get out of the city’s harbour on the first leg of the race down Australia’s eastern coast and across the treacherous Bass Strait towards the finish line in the Tasmanian state capital.

A final weather briefing on race day predicted “fresh to strong” north to northeasterly winds in the next day or so, giving the fastest, 100-foot supermaxi yachts a chance to challenge Comanche’s 2017 record of one day, 9 hours, 15min and 24sec.

Mark Richards, skipper of nine-time line honours-winning supermaxi Wild Oats, said his crew was buoyant after preparing for exactly these conditions.

“We put all our eggs in one basket and we put all our money on black for a downwind forecast and we have ended up getting it,” he told public broadcaster ABC.

“I think Wild Oats is going to be very fast,” Richards added. “The world is going to find out who is the fastest boat downwind.”

Wild Oats is competing for line honours against three rival supermaxis: Andoo Comanche, last year’s line honours winner Black Jack, and LawConnect.

Weather is a critical factor in the race, which was first held in 1945. Though the supermaxis are expected to be powered by northerly winds to a quick finish as early as Tuesday, slower mid- to small-sized boats will still be in the water in the following days facing possible gales and changes in wind direction.

In 1998, when a deep depression exploded over the fleet in the Bass Strait, six men died, five boats sank and 55 sailors were rescued.

Black Jack took line honours last year after a tight tussle with LawConnect, ending years of frustrating near misses to cross the finish line on the River Derwent after two days, 12 hours, 37min and 17sec.

Ichi Ban, which is not racing this year, was the 2021 winner of the overall handicap prize, which takes into account the yachts’ sizes. The boat pipped rival Celestial in a race where dangerous waves and weather conditions saw many withdraw.

International boats are making a return after the race was cancelled in 2020 for the first time due to the pandemic, and Covid hit the fleet last year.

Entrants come from Germany (Orione), Hong Kong (Antipodes), Hungary (Cassiopeia 68), New Caledonia (Eye Candy and Poulpito), New Zealand (Caro), Britain (Sunrise) and the United States (Warrior Won).

Sunrise is a proven ocean racer, winning the 2021 Fastnet Race in Britain, while Caro has been tipped to take out overall handicap honours, although skipper Max Klink played down his prospects ahead of the race saying: “I do not think we are the favourite.”

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Celestial crowned overall Sydney to Hobart yacht race winner after bitter 2021 loss almost saw skipper walk away

Celestial has been crowned overall winner of the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race, taking home the Tattersall Cup after a fast and furious run down Tasmania's eastern coast.

Key points:

• Gweilo placed second overall, with Caro and Warrior Won coming third and fourth
• Skipper Sam Haynes said a penalty in last year's race that saw him place second almost made him step away from the sport
• Andoo Comanche won line honours on Wednesday morning

The New South Wales boat arrived in Hobart on Wednesday, but the result was announced on Thursday afternoon after a redress hearing requested by another yacht.

It was a sweet moment of redemption for skipper and owner Sam Haynes, who had victory snatched away by a penalty in last year's race.

"I'm screaming loud and proud. It means everything, everything, especially after last year," he said.

"It's like an elation — it's huge for me and the crew. I can't believe it; it's a bit of a life-changer.

"If you look around, there are a lot of boats that can win this and you have to push extremely hard to get to … even to get in the top 10 is major.

"So we weren't expecting anything more than just being competitive and putting in a really good show."

Haynes said conditions had started off "pretty good" but became rougher on reaching Tasmania's east coast.

"We were getting a lot of heavy conditions and it was blowing hard from the north," he said.

"The sea was massive, there were really big waves coming over the boat, people getting washed around on the deck, and we had to obviously have all our safety equipment on."

Despite its win, Celestial almost did not even make the 77th edition of the race — a 40-minute penalty last year that saw it place second to Ichi Ban was devastating for Haynes.

An international jury ruled Celestial had breached rules that stipulated competitors must keep a continuous watch for radio contact.

Haynes said the loss almost saw him step away from the sport.

"Last year certainly hurt ... but we made a very conscious decision to come back and get back into it," he said.

"Last year was terrible, but this is one for the ages.

"It's a sport we love; we've got a great crew, and they stood by and really wanted to compete as hard as possible in this year's race.

"There are plenty of times, even on a good day, where you're looking at it and you think, 'Here I am at the bottom of the boat, soaking wet, tired ... why am I out here?'

"But it is a beautiful sport and I love the competition, I like the camaraderie of it as well, and I like the technicality of sailing and what it takes to make these boats the way they are.

"There are a lot of reasons to be in it."

Andoo Comanche takes line honours after two-boat tussle

Celestial's win was announced after a redress hearing requested by Enterprise Next Generation, which stood by the stricken yacht, Koa, which later retired with a broken rudder.

Fellow NSW yacht Gweilo placed second and New Zealand's Caro and the USA's Warrior Won placed second and third overall, respectively.

Line honours were taken out by Andoo Comanche after it triumphed in a two-boat tussle up the River Derwent early on Wednesday morning.

Favourable weather led to a speedy race this year, but it came down to the John Winning Jr-skippered supermaxi and LawConnect, which finished a little over 20 minutes later.

Black Jack followed closely behind the pair and all three chased each other down the east coast of Tasmania, hooked a sharp right turn around Tasman Island and closed in on Hobart in quick succession.

Comanche skipper John Winning Jr said the line honours win felt "pretty unbelievable at the moment" and was "still sinking in".

"I was on [line honours winner] Perpetual Loyal as one of the skippers in 2016 so I sort of know what to expect in terms of all of this," he said.

"But to do it in a campaign that I was part of putting together is really quite exceptional."

LawConnect crew member Gavin Smith said on Wednesday morning the team was exhausted but happy with the result.

"We were always hoping we would be able to catch them in the end, it was just a case that we didn't get there this year, but hopefully next year."

Although a number of other yachts have retired from the race, including White Noise, Mondo, Navy One, Sail Exchange and Huntress, it is a stark contrast to last year, when almost a quarter of entries dropped out before finishing.

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Andoo comanche claims sydney to hobart line honours victory as severe weather slams remaining fleet.

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ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE: PROOF PERFECT OF ABILITY

Hobart, 31 December 2022 – One of the world's great sportsmen once said: “Winning takes care of everything”. For Sam Haynes, the Australian owner of Celestial and recipient of the Tattersall Cup for overall victory on corrected time at the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, never have truer words been spoken. To a lesser degree, and without any intended pun on his name, the quote also reflects John Winning Jr’s line honours success with Andoo Comanche.

The 77th Rolex Sydney Hobart started on 26 December, its traditional slot in the global sporting calendar. Once again hundreds of thousands of people crowded the shores of Sydney Harbour, or watched from the water as well as live on television and over the internet. The departure from the familiar setting did not disappoint. 109 yachts, comprising professionals and Corinthians, and some 20 double handed or two-person crews, set off under blue skies and bright sunshine. A 10 – 15 knot north north-easterly meant a beat out to the heads, before spinnakers were hoisted and close to 48 hours of uninterrupted downwind sailing began.

With an international repute that transcends sailing’s perceived boundaries, the Rolex Sydney Hobart is an icon in the sport and has been supported by Rolex for over 20 years. The organizing club, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), works tirelessly with its partner the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania to ensure the race remains at the pinnacle of classic 600 mile offshore competition. Supporting dynamic yacht clubs like the CYCA, institutions essential to the evolution of sailing, is a core facet of Rolex’s relationship with yachting.

Success at the “Great Race South” is dependent upon so many factors. Paul Cayard, legendary yachtsman and Rolex Testimonee, is clear on the qualities required:

“ Success in offshore racing requires rigorous preparation, tactical skill and an unyielding determination to push through to the finish. ”  

A veteran of 11 previous campaigns, Sam Haynes agrees:

“ You have to arrive on the 26 December completely ready. That is the only way to approach a race like this .  Testing, training, analysis ,  getting prepared involves a lot of people who are not even on the race boat. ”

John Winning Jr speaks in a similar vein. His first thoughts on realising his would be first boat to finish the 628nm course turned to who and what had made it possible:

“ This boat is all about line honours and we have done what we set out to achieve. I reflected on all the people in the support crew, the team onboard, the time spent training, doing what it took to make the boat go faster, on everything we did to have the best chance possible to achieve our aim. ”

Ahead of the race, Winning Jr had said about the battle to be first home:

"Second place will not do. It is win or nothing ."

In a race like this, ‘nothing’ is only a heartbeat away. Shortly after the congested start, where the four competing 100ft (30.5m) maxis traded tacks in their concerted effort to be first into open water, Andoo Comanche struck a mark of the course. Recognising their error, the crew performed two 360 degree turns in quick succession to purge the infringement. Failure to do so could have led to a fatal penalty at the end of the race. The pre-race favourite needed to reset and re-focus.

Once in the Tasman Sea, the skilled crew of Andoo Comanche set to work reeling in the yachts ahead and establishing a small but vital lead over their closest pursuers. Winning Jr acknowledged the determination witnessed in the battle for line honours and the J.H. Illingworth Challenge Cup.

"It is an incredible ocean race, something quite special. Equal amounts of effort will have gone into all the yachts competing in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. The three other 100 footers especially kept us honest, and I would like to congratulate them for an amazing competition. "

Andoo Comanche completed the course in a time of one day 11 hours 56 minutes 48 seconds, two hours outside the race record established in 2017.

The hurdle faced by Celestial came a year earlier and was substantial. Turning the clock back 12 months, Haynes, Vice Commodore of the CYCA and a passionate sailor, admitted to being crushed by finishing second overall after a rule infringement late in the 2021 race resulted in his team being demoted from top spot.

"After last year, I was ready to walk away from the sport. Talking to my family and key people on the team, I realised it was not the right way to go. I wanted to try again, to step up to the challenge. ”

As the race unfolded it was clear no crew would have a straight-forward time. The initial downwind sleighride was brutal and tiring, boats racing at speed and on the edge, with race-ending damage a split second away. For the smaller entries, there was an additional, cruel twist as the wind turned on day three forcing them to beat upwind to the southernmost point of the course at Tasman Island, slowing down their progress and effectively removing any chance of overall victory on handicap.

Onboard Celestial the mindset was singular, as Haynes explains:

"We had done our homework. We had done a lot of training, so we could be absolutely confident in the boat and ourselves. At our final pre-race briefing I told the crew we are going to push as fast as we possibly can because we have to do that to beat the other boats.”

The approach was not without danger, particularly in the hours of darkness:

"There is always an element of extreme risk in fast offshore racing at night. It can be quite beautiful, but the second night east of Tasmania was gnarly with a big sea state and gusts of 30 – 35 knots. The boat was waist deep in water, regularly diving into waves, violently shaking, but still being driven right on its limits. ”

Celestial eventually crossed the finish line late in the morning of 28 December, establishing an unbeatable lead in the standings.

Fiercely challenging, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race offers a huge sense of personal achievement to those that complete it. Winning the race on corrected time guarantees a place in sailing folklore. Open to all, only the most determined entrants can truly aspire to this pinnacle of achievements. For this edition, the last words rest with Sam Haynes:

"To win a race like this is a massive, life changing achievement . It is a very hard trophy to win. However good you are there are a lot of reasons why you might not succeed. To finally hold the Tattersall Cup means everything .”

ROLEX AND YACHTING Rolex has always associated with activities driven by passion, excellence, precision and team spirit. The Swiss watchmaker naturally gravitated towards the elite world of yachting six decades ago and the brand's enduring partnership now encompasses the most prestigious clubs, races and regattas, as well as towering figures in the sport, including ground-breaking round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester and the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, Sir Ben Ainslie. Today, Rolex is Title Sponsor of 15 major international events from leading offshore races such as the annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race, to grand prix competition at the Rolex TP52 World Championship and spectacular gatherings at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and the Rolex Swan Cup. It also supports the exciting SailGP global championship in which national teams race identical supercharged F50 catamarans on some of the world's most famous harbours. Rolex's partnerships with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Royal Ocean Racing Club, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Yacht Club Italiano, New York Yacht Club and Royal Yacht Squadron, among others, are the foundation of its enduring relationship with this dynamic sport.

Last Sydney to Hobart yacht arrives with 18 minutes left of 2022

A ny other day, they would have slipped quietly into Constitution Dock. But when 70-year-old Kathy Veel and 62-year-old Bridget Canham crossed the Sydney to Hobart finish line - the last of the fleet to do so - at 11.42pm on New Year’s Eve, it was as if they’d heralded the early arrival of 2023.

A crowd in the thousands who had packed out the Hobart shoreline to ring in the new year chanted “Currawong, Currawong!” as the two-hander made its way past the packed-out Taste of Summer festival and around Constitution Dock.

Cheers came from the water, too, where boats had lined up to greet the nine-metre yacht as it pushed up the River Derwent.

After a lap of honour around the thrilled spectators, interviews on the boat, and the well-deserved popping of a giant bottle of champagne: the fireworks. Veel and Canham watched from the 1973 vessel that had carried them south.

You couldn’t have written a better ending to a story that stretched five days at sea, 630 nautical miles, and a day of waiting in Eden as they waited for bad weather in Bass Strait to pass.

“You wouldn’t believe the stops we pulled to get this happening,” said Canham. “The biggest challenge we had was getting here before New Year’s Eve,” she said. “We’ve been working our butts off to get here. And it’s paid off.”

Veel said the experience was “unbelievable”. “[It was like] nothing I’ve ever had ... in my whole life, she said. “When you heard people going, ‘Curr-a-wong!’, I thought, ‘What?!’

“I’m really proud of what we’ve done.”

The sailors described the weather conditions down the coast as “brilliant”.

“The boat behaved so well, it was just magic,” said Canham, a retired nurse.

The sailors are among the oldest to compete in the Sydney to Hobart race, and certainly the oldest in the race’s new two-handed fleet section. But Veel, a retired teacher now living in Bullabarra, near Katoomba, said they didn’t want to be defined by their age - nor their sex.

“It’s not, to be honest, how we think of ourselves,” said Veel in the lead-up to the race. “We’re sailors who happen to be women rather than women who sail.

Veel purchased the boat last year, and ran a GoFundMe page to raise financial support so the pair could purchase the necessary supplies to enter the race.

In 2021, Veel was named Blue Mountains Volunteer of the Year for her work with the not-for-profit sailing-based Making Waves Foundation.

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Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

• Corinthian - IRC
• Corinthian - PHS
• 2-Handed IRC
• 2-Handed PHS
• 2-Handed Line Honours
• Line Honours

Andoo Comanche

Mistral (th), wild thing 100, kraken 111 (th), min river (th), atomic blonde, pretty woman, white noise, cinnamon girl - eden capital (th), midnight rambler, disko trooper_contender sailcloth, ocean crusaders j-bird, teasing machine, maritimo 54, love & war, bumblebee v, hutchies yeah baby, niksen (th), flying cloud, xs moment bnmh, blue planet (th), voltstar yeah baby, highly sprung, verite (th), showdown (th), amazingrace, son of a son, avalanche (th), mister lucky (th), zephyr insurance masters, tilting at windmills, allegresse (th), currawong (th) *, georgia express *, maritimo 52 *, millennium falcon *, pacman (th) *, philosopher (th) *, rum rebellion (th) *, shk scallywag *, tumbleweed (th) *, at final racetime, race organiser notes.

• Arcadia - Retired - mainsail damage
• Bacardi - Retired - rigging damage
• Currawong (TH) - Retired - electrical issues
• Georgia Express - Retired - rigging issues
• Maritimo 52 - Retired - rigging damage
• Millennium Falcon - Retired - crew illness
• Pacman (TH) - Retired - runner damage
• Philosopher (TH) - Retired - rigging damage
• Rum Rebellion (TH) - Retired - minor injury
• SHK Scallywag - Retired - broken bowsprit
• Sticky - Retired - electrical damage
• Tumbleweed (TH) - Retired - crew illness

Unless otherwise flagged, all positions are obtained by a report from a GPS transceiver on the yachts.

• No Report Position unknown
• Deduced Reckoning No report received - position deduced using previous position
• Estimate No report received - position estimated
• Radio Report No report received - position obtained by radio from yacht
• Sighting No report received - position obtained by sighting of the yacht
• Interpolation No report received - position interpolated from earlier and later known positions.
• Protest Pending
• Penalty Applied
• Redress Applied