first sydney to hobart yacht race

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History & Archives

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) was formed in 1944 and, despite its name, quickly became the leading exponent of ocean racing in Australia, at that time a little-known sport both here and elsewhere.

The CYCA began when some keen sailors started meeting informally in a photographic studio in Sydney. They soon acquired a boatshed in Rushcutters Bay and the rest, as they say, is history.

In 1945 a planned cruise to Hobart quickly turned into a race and the famous Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was born.

The race captured the imagination of the Australian public and it soon developed into an international yachting classic, attracting competitors from around the world.

With the CYCA conducting ocean races such as the Sydney Hobart Race since 1944, it has given the Club an expertise in race organisation and sea safety which is internationally acclaimed and widely emulated, some techniques being adapted world-wide following CYCA development.

These days, the CYCA is the ‘Club of choice’ for its more than 3,100 members, sailors and non-sailors, who enjoy the world-class facilities, the extensive sailing calendar and the social programme of member’s nights, prize giving and just relaxing in the Sydney Hobart Bar after a hard-fought race.

The full Club history can be found in the book “Ratbags to Respectability” which can be purchased online or at the CYCA reception.

CYCA has made every effort to locate the owners of material published on its websites that may be subject to copyright or moral rights in Australia.

Should anyone become aware that material has been used without permission or appropriate attribution, please contact [email protected] .

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Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

Alive wins Rolex Sydney Hobart for a second time in 5 years.

Alive, skippered by Duncan Hine, has been declared the overall winner of the 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, securing the Tasmanian boat its second victory in five years.

• 29 Jan, 2024 11:27:00 AM

Thank You for making the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race – A Race for the Ages

Reflecting on the resounding success of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023 fills us with gratitude. The coordination required for hosting such an iconic event was made possible by the dedicated efforts of everyone involved.

• 23 Jan, 2024 10:00:00 AM

Congratulations to all the divisional winners of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

Congratulations to all the divisional winners of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023.

• 22 Jan, 2024 09:00:00 AM

2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - A Race for the Ages

The 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was one of the most challenging offshore classics in years and delivered some of the tightest finishes for both Line Honours and Overall victory in the race's history.

• 01 Jan, 2024 09:00:00 AM

Four boats still racing – reflections on Toecutter’s debut

This morning four yachts remain at sea in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Jason Bond’s Beneteau First 47.7 Enigma (NSW) and Kiwi husband and wife, Michael and Tracey Carter on Allegresse, both due to finish today.

• 01 Jan, 2024 08:59:00 AM

Q & A with Charles Devanneaux – owner of US entry Lenny

**Charles Devanneaux (second from right) with crew of LENNY** Although French, with a full French crew, Charles Devanneaux represented the USA where he lives.

PHOTOS | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Official Prizegiving

PHOTOS | Day 5 Morning - Tasman Island and Storm Bay

PHOTOS | Day 5 and Day 6 finishers

PHOTOS | Official Presentation of Tattersall Cup and Rolex Timepiece to the Overall Winner

VIDEO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - Rolex Daily Video Summary

VIDEO | Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2023

VIDEO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Official Prizegiving

VIDEO | Race Update - 31 December Morning

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 10

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 9

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 8

AUDIO | 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart Sked 7

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Full Standings available approximately three hours after the start.

OFFICIAL ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART MERCHANDISE

Shop the official clothing range of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in person at the Club in New South Head Road, Darling Point or online below.  

From casual to technical clothing, there is something for all occasions. Be quick as stock is limited!

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Sailing milestone: A half-century of starts for a competitor in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race

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SYDNEY (AP) — Lindsay May will notch a first in the 78-year history of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race when he becomes the only sailor to start it 50 times — all of them consecutively — when it begins Tuesday in Sydney harbor.

May, with three overall titles and one line-honors win, will navigate “Antipodes” in the expected 103-boat fleet in the annual race that will head down the New South Wales south coast and across often treacherous Bass Strait to the island state of Tasmania.

The finish line of the 628-nautical mile (720-mile, 1,170-kilometer) race is at Constitution Dock in the state capital of Hobart.

May’s sailing career began in 1973 , when the-then 24-year-old stepped off his surf board and on to a yacht.

“I never thought I would get to 50 and I had no idea what I was in for,” May said. “I had done very little racing. Then I went sailing here on the harbor with a mate of mine who was in the navy and I was just hooked.”

In 2006, May and his crew won handicap honors as the skipper and navigator of the 33-year-old wooden vessel Love & War. But he counts his most memorable race as the one he didn’t finish.

In 1993, when only 38 out of 104 starters finished due to poor weather conditions, May plucked fellow competitor John Quinn out of the Tasman Sea. Quinn had been washed overboard and spent nearly six hours in the water.

Last year’s fast conditions appeared to put the line honors record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds, under threat. That record was set by 100-foot super maxi Andoo Comanche in 2017, and Comanche also won last year’s race .

On Sunday, skipper John Winning Jr. suggested Andoo Comanche would defend its line honors title in any conditions as the race’s weather forecast remained unpredictable.

The Bureau of Meteorology says uncertainty remained as to wind, wave and weather conditions.

The four 100-foot super maxi yachts may have to contend with stormy conditions from late Tuesday into Wednesday, with showers, gusts and hail all possible for the far south of New South Wales and Bass Strait.

“Pack another set of thermal gear. It’ll be cold,” said SHK Scallywag skipper David Witt, another of the super maxis.

The forecast has changed throughout the week, leaving crews to suggest that having an adaptable navigator on board could be a game-changer.

“For us, it’s about trusting each person’s role on the boat,” Winning said. “We back our boat in any conditions to win the race, whether it’s upwind, downwind, light wind, reaching or whatever it is.”

Last year, Comanche finished at Constitution Dock in one day, 11 hours, 56 minutes and 48 seconds — the second-fastest time behind its 2017 record.

LawConnect, runner-up for line honors in the last three Hobarts, is Comanche’s biggest threat to clinching back-to-back wins. LawConnect, formerly known as InfoTrack and Perpetual Loyal, is particularly strong upwind.

“If we could get that all the way, that’d be awesome,” said sailing master Tony Mutter.

Super maxi LawConnect won’t shy away from the rough conditions that could come with a predicted low pressure system.

“We actually prefer it, the more tactical it is, the better for us, we feel,” Mutter said. “We kind of need that to be a thing for us to have a chance to win.”

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

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Sydney to Hobart 75 Years

Challenging, Thrilling, Racing - Sydney to Hobart 75 Years 

Challenging, Thrilling Racing.

Charting the history of the blue water classic, with stunning photography by acclaimed photographers Andrea Francolini, Carlo Borlenghi and Richard Bennett, this exhibition is an expansive visual timeline, including evocative film.

Highlighting the excitement, comradery, risk and danger of this great yacht race, Challenging, Thrilling, Racing - Sydney to Hobart 75 Years includes material from significant years such as the tragic events of 1998's race . You'll gain an insight into the character of the race that began in 1945 with only nine contestants. In this, its 75th year, the Sydney to Hobart race fields 170 local and international teams. 

Also included in the 75th year commemorative program for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2019 is a display of photographs by acclaimed yachting photographer Richard Bennett in the museum’s Yots Café during December 2019 to January 2020. Richard's book will be available to purchase in the museum store.

Main image: Skipper Captain John Illingworth (centre standing in cap) with the crew of Rani, the winner of the first Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, 1.45am, 2 January 1946. ANMM Collection 00048228_003 , Gift from Alison Richmond

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Tasmanian yacht Alive claims overall Sydney to Hobart win

• Duncan Hine-skippered yacht declared winner of Tattersall Cup
• At least 17 retirements confirmed as crews battle stormy conditions

A first-day “blow out” of their best sail wasn’t enough to stop Alive from clinching a second overall victory in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

The Duncan Hine-skippered 66-footer arrived at Constitution Dock on Thursday atop the leaderboard on corrected handicap time. With no competitors able to beat her mark, Alive’s crew was presented with the prestigious Tattersall Cup on Saturday morning.

Alive, handicap winner in 2018, becomes just the second Tasmanian yacht with two overall titles after Westward in 1947 and 1948.

“I think she is probably the best mini-maxi around. She hasn’t dated,” Hine said. “She is still as solid as a rock. Most of the modern ones, they sustain a fair bit of damage. This girl, she’s built for it.”

Hine said there were some anxious moments after a decision to sail further off the coast following the Boxing Day start. “We were one sail down and the best sail for the race, we blew it out on the first day,” he said. “It had done its life, we probably should have replaced it before this race.”

Hine said experienced navigator Adrienne Cahalan, who now has three overall wins to go with six lines honours victories from 31 Sydney to Hobarts, was “colossal”. “She’s got a meteorology degree ... and has more of an idea of what is happening in the systems (than others),” Hine said. “I can’t think of many guys I know that have done 31 (races). She’s stoic, she’s tough.”

Alive was fourth past the post with a time of two days, two hours, 19 minutes and four seconds, about seven hours behind line honours winner LawConnect. LawConnect pipped fellow 100ft supermaxi Andoo Comanche by just 51 seconds in the second-closest finish in race history.

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There were 39 yachts across the finish line at midday on Saturday from a starting fleet of 103. The casualty list has grown to 17 with Helsel 3 pulling the pin after diverting to Port Arthur in southern Tasmania with unspecified damage.

The fleet battled squally conditions as well as a storm on the first night of the race. A gale wind warning is in place for waters off Tasmania’s lower east and south-east coast where the majority of remaining competitors are placed.

Gunshot, a 52-footer skippered by NSW’s David Walsh, was towed by a police vessel on Friday night after earlier retiring due to mainsail damage. The crew of 10 was heading to Cape Barren Island off the northeast coast of Tasmania when they asked for a tow because they could only sail at one knot. The yacht was safely anchored off Flinders Island on Saturday morning awaiting more favourable weather.

Two-handed yacht Sylph VI, featuring skipper Bob Williams and his cat Oli, is bringing up the tail of the fleet and is not expected to arrive until the new year.

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Race is on to win 2024 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race

Over 30 boats will be on the start line for the 2024 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race this Friday when monohulls, a multihull and two-handed entries will share the start line off Barrenjoey Headland for the 1pm start.  

Respected sailor, Theresa Michell, has joined forces with Paul Beath and his J/99, Verite, for their first major two-handed race together. Newcomers to the Pittwater Coffs, Beath did the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart in two-handed mode with another co-skipper. He and Michell’s first two-handed training session was a four-day return trip from Hobart.

“It was all upwind. Not particularly pleasant,” Beath remembered. “One of the reasons she is doing this race with me is because she sailed with me fully crewed in the Sydney Gold Coast race and the rest of the Blue Water Pointscore last year and we get on well.

“And this race is at a nice time of year,” the Novocastrian said of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club’s (RPAYC) 226 nautical mile race.

Although she halted racing at the end of the 1990s to raise a family, Michell’s credentials are outstanding in both two-handed and fully-crewed sailing, as a skipper, navigator and crew.

She contested the 5500 nautical mile two-handed Melbourne to Osaka race in 1999 on an Adams 10 that she also skippered in the 1998 Double-Handed Trans-Tasman Challenge from Sydney to New Plymouth in New Zealand. She has sailed on the international scene, done Sydney Hobarts and sailed an Olympic class dinghy.

“This is a new team in a new race and we think it’s a good distance. We’ll get our systems together and get organised,” Beath commented.

“It will be a demanding race because of the currents and fluctuating conditions.”

The pair are expected to be competitive against all-comers, including other two-handed entries such as Chris O’Neill, who returns with Blue Planet after finishing the race seventh overall last year.

“We also won PHS and were second in ORC – and these results were exactly the same in the two-handed division,” he said.

This time he will be co-skippered by Tom Johnston, who helped him to sixth in the two-handed division of the 2023 Sydney Hobart.

“It’s a fun race and a good location in Coffs, it’s not too strenuous and importantly, there’s been sufficient time between this race and the Sydney Hobart – I’ve forgotten all the pain,” O’Neill said wryly.

Among the latest fully crewed entries for the 38 th  ‘Pittwater to Coffs’ is David Griffith’s record breaking JV62 Whisper, which will likely battle Geoff Hill’s Santa Cruz 72, Antipodes, for line honours. Whisper is also a favourite for the overall win, but due to the many weather vagaries at this time of year, the race really is wide open in all classifications.

On his quarry, Whisper’s owner says: “With her long waterline length, if Antipodes gets reaching conditions, she is quick, she will take off. We’re in pretty good shape though and the boat’s in perfect order.”

Griffith says his crew will also hold them in good stead. Among them are Rear Admiral Lee Goddard, Michael Coxon, Dougie McGain, Michael Fountain and Brett Van Munster. 

“Either way, it’s a wonderful race and the Alfreds do a great job,” Griffith said. “Everyone loves a destination race and Coffs Harbour is a great destination with lots to do.”

Others chasing overall glory are regular DK46 rivals Khaleesi (Sandy Farquharson/Rob Aldis) and LCE Old School Racing (Mark Griffith). At the Nautilus Marine Insurance Sydney Harbour Regatta in early March, the latter placed second in the Open division on home turf, while Griffith’s boat, from RPAYC, was second. Another DK46, Nine Dragons, was declared the winner. 

Pierre Gal has entered the Asia catamaran Stealth 12.60 named Fez. The French expat, who lives on the NSW north coast, is a name locally and internationally, competing in the America’s Cup for France and has Australian victories too.

Incidentally, Gal won Division 4 of the 2019 Sydney Gold Coast race with Mistral, the same Lombard 34 that won the 2023 Pittwater Coffs race for two-handed sailors, Rupert Henry and Greg O’Shea last year.

Follow the fleet on the race tracker at:  https://yb.tl/pittwater2024

For all information go to:  www.pittwatertocoffs.com.au

Di Pearson/RPAYC media

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Sydney to Hobart yacht race — how to watch and what to look for

Since its beginning in 1945, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race has become one of the pinnacles for sailing competitors, with the event being a test of skill, teamwork, nautical engineering and tactics — with weather providing the wild card.

If you know what to look for, the race can be an enjoyable experience.

Here are some tips for getting the best out of it.

When does it start?

About 111 boats ranging from the supermaxis (longer than 20 metres) to smaller 30-footers (9 metres) will be ready to go at 1pm AEDT Boxing Day on Sydney Harbour.

The start is arguably one of the greatest spectacles in modern sport.

Once the starting cannon is fired, all teams will be gunning for The Heads and into the open water of the South Pacific, with competitors surrounded by all manner of craft.

Watch as boats come perilously close to the supermaxis.

The fleet then begins to make its way down the east coast of Australia to Hobart, a distance of approximately 630 nautical miles (1,166 kilometres).

What are they racing for?

It isn't money. Yes, you read that correctly — there is no prize money for the winners. 

Instead, they race for trophies in a number of categories , the main events for casual observers being Line Honours and Overall.

The first yacht across the line wins the JH Illingworth Trophy, but the overall winner on handicap wins the Tattersalls Cup.

The overall victory is considered the major prize for sailors and a testament to skill and tactics.

Most of the time, handicap honours are won by a smaller, slower boat, which outdoes its larger opposition when time is adjusted for size and other factors.

The reigning overall winner is Ichi Ban. It finished in 4 days, 10 hours, and 17 minutes.

This was after a protest against Celestial was upheld. Celestial was handed a 40-minute time penalty for not manning their radio for a 90-minute period, during which officials were trying to contact the team.

The reigning line honours winner is Black Jack, winning in two days, 12 hours, and 37 minutes in 2021. 

How can I watch it?

Race sponsor Rolex says the race can be watched on the Seven Network. 

7Mate will broadcast the start of the race live around Australia. Their coverage starts at 12:30pm (AEDT).

ABC TV will also provide updates throughout the event.

For those who can't watch the live broadcast of the start of the race on their TV, Seven will have a stream of the race.

You can also watch vision from the event on the Sydney to Hobart yacht race website .

If you are in Sydney and on the water, spectators who wish to watch the start but not follow the fleet are advised to stick to the "western side of the harbour".

Good vantage points for spectator boats include "Taylors Bay, Chowder Bay, Obelisk Bay and North Head on the west and Rose Bay, Watsons Bay, Camp Cove and South Head to the east".

According to organisers, the harbour will be "very crowded and traffic can be chaotic, so stay alert, follow the advice of race officials and remember to keep well clear of the exclusion zone between 12pm and 2pm".

How can I follow the boats online?

You can follow the race on an online tracker , which shows the positions of yachts as they move south.

The locations of yachts are transmitted by a GPS device on each vessel. 

As the race goes on, you can see the course charted by crews — unless of course the boat's GPS device gets switched off, rendering it invisible to spectators and other competitors — an accusation that was levelled at Wild Oats XI in 2018 by the owner of Black Jack.

What should I look out for?

The weather forecast is for northerly winds in the harbour for Monday's start, which will favour the bigger boats. They will push hard to get out of the harbour.

Barring disaster, the Line Honours winner will almost certainly be one of the four super maxis.

LawConnect (formerly Perpetual LOYAL, formerly Investec LOYAL, formerly InfoTrack) set a new record in 2016 when it crossed the line in one day, 13 hours, 31 minutes and 12 seconds, a time since bettered by Comanche the next year.

Black Jack (Formerly Alfa Romeo II) has a strong Sydney to Hobart history and is the reigning Line Honours champion. It's had a strong 2022 already, taking line, record, and overall wins in the Club Marine Pittwater to Coffs Harbour race. Black Jack has a strong rivalry with Wild Oats XI as it was the first boat to break Wild Oats' race record in 2009.

Andoo Comanche is the hot favourite for line honours this year. It has already defeated Black Jack in the Sydney to Gold Coast race this year and has won the inaugural Tollgate Islands race. It beat Wild Oats for line honours in 2017, setting a race record in the process, but only after a controversial protest . 

Hamilton Island Wild Oats XI is the most famous boat in the race but has not participated since 2019 due to COVID. Veteran skipper Mark Richards will once again be at the helm and will be hoping to improve on the 3rd place finish in 2019. 

The favourites for the handicap trophy are Alive, URM Group, Moneypenny and Stefan Racing, with last year's winner, Ichi Ban, not participating.

This year there is also a number of crews made up of father-daughter or father-son teams.

The yacht race is taken seriously for good reason — people have died when the weather has turned bad.

In 1998, six sailors died, five yachts sank, more than 60 yachts retired and 55 sailors had to be rescued by helicopter.

In 2015, a squall hit the fleet off the News South Wales coast, ending the race for 29 competitors.

When does the race finish?

The lines honours winner is likely to come in around 48 hours after the start, but this is very much dependent on the weather —  especially in the 22.2-kilometre final stretch up the Derwent River.

This is when the wind can drop away and it becomes an agonisingly slow crawl , with every trick in the book pulled out to speed the progress up the glassy waterway.

In 2021, Black Jack crossed the line at 1:37am on December 29, followed by LawConnect at 4:11am and SHK Scallywag about 20 minutes after that.

In 2019, Comanche came in at a more reasonable time of 7:30am on December 28, with InfoTrack about 45 minutes later.

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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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