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| On-water photos of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Start. |
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| by Peter Andrews, Monday December 26. |
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| Done and dusted as Maluka brings up the rear. |
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Photos by Kurt Arrigo and Daniel Forster for Rolex,
Story and page edited By Peter Andrews. |
| 08:00 AEDT, December
31, 2011. |
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At a ceremony
on Hobart’s Constitution Dock this morning, the divisional
winners of the 2011 Sydney Hobart were awarded. Having
arrived ninth into Hobart, Chris Bull’s British Cookson
50 Jazz picked up honours in IRC Division 0, was
second in ORCi Division 1 and finished fourth overall under
IRC.
“I’d say this was an average one for conditions,” said
Bull of this year’s Sydney Hobart. “It had
quite a lot of tough upwind, which is what you’d expect
of this race and we like that. It enabled us in the first two
thirds of the race to pull away from the main rivals of our size
and that was better than expected. We had 25 to 35 knots and
we didn’t think that would continue as long.” |
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Chris Bull’s British Cookson 50 Jazz passing Tasmania's Cape Raoul, during the 2011 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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The difficult
patch for Jazz was subsequently off the east coast
of Tasmania where it was all too possible to get caught in
a wind hole and crews had to rely on the progress of the
boats ahead of them to negotiate a way through. One third
of the way down the Tasman coast, Bull admitted they did
stop for just over an hour.
In the light conditions, the TP52s’ got away from Jazz and
it was only rounding Tasman Light and entering Storm Bay
that the British boat was able to not only reel them in,
but to put distance on them. Unfortunately, just when it
seemed that they had it in the bag, it went very light
coming up the Derwent River. This allowed Syd Fischer’s
TP52 Ragamuffin to close in from astern and ultimately
to beat them.
“So it happened again,” said Bull with a sigh, having
on two previous occasions finished second in the southern hemisphere’s
most prestigious yacht race. |
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Syd Fischer’s TP52 Ragamuffin passing at Cape Raoul,
during the 2011 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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Up until Thursday
(day three), when conditions turned light for the smaller
slower boats, Roger Hickman and his crew on the Farr 43 Wild
Rose had been looking favourite to claim the overall
IRC handicap prize. However as progress slowed towards the
end of their race, Stephen Ainsworth’s 63 foot Loki moved
into the lead, ultimately claiming the prize.
“You have to be philosophical,” said Hickman. “I
have been privileged to have won two of these races previously.” Wild
Rose won in 1993, while Hickman was sailing master on SAP
Ausmaid for her handicap victory in 2000.
During the race Hickman said he contemplated Wild Oats
XI taking line honours and Wild Rose (originally
Bob Oatley’s first Wild Oats) winning on
handicap. Unfortunately it was not to be, in either case. |
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Stephen Ainsworth's Reichel Pugh 63 Loki, during the 2011
Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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“It was
exciting, a great event,” said Hickman, who this year
participated in his 35th Sydney Hobart. “This
one was special as we got to celebrate the loss of our dear
friend Sally Gordon, who sailed with us for 15 Sydney
Hobarts.” Gordon, Hickman’s partner, was lost
along with Andrew Short, skipper of the boat she was sailing,
during the Sydney to Flinders Islet Race in 2009.
This year Hickman mounted a campaign aboard Wild Rose and
had success winning the Lord Howe Island and the Sydney
Offshore Newcastle Yacht races. For the Sydney Hobart, Wild
Rose was sailed with a crew comprising six men and
six women, the youngest 25, the oldest 75. Despite having
three first timers on board, there were still 98 Hobart
races between the crew. |
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Roger Hickman’s 26-year-old Farr 43 Wild Rose, during
the 2011 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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Sailing his
first Sydney Hobart was British youth singlehanded
round the world sailor Mike Perham, who arrived yesterday
aboard Jessica Watson’s Sydney 38 Ella Baché another
Challenge.
“It was fantastic,” said Perham. “It was more
than I could have hoped for. And our second place is just amazing
for a team that has never done a Hobart race together on a new
boat. When you look at the other 38s’, that have done five
Hobarts before; there was stiff competition. Plus the boats are
all the same, so it comes down to the crew at the end of the
day.”
Perham was navigator on board and sent them the right way
through the breezy first night and down the New South Wales
coast and took the favourable easterly track across the
mouth of Bass Strait. Into the final miles, they, like
most, parked up. But Perham says that they just kept pushing.
Eventually this paid off and they reached the finish in
second. |
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Jessica Watson's Sydney 38 Ella Baché Another Challengeduring the 2011 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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Perham says
he is enjoying the transition into a racing sailor. In the
build up to the Sydney Hobart, he and the rest of Jessica
Watson’s Ella Baché Another Challenge crew
spent two and a half months training. That included a dry
run, sailing their Sydney 38 to Hobart and back. In years
to come Perham hopes to compete in the French Figaro circuit.
Following last year’s victory in the Bermuda Race,
and a class win this August in the Fastnet Race,
American Rives Potts and the crew of the 1969 classic McCurdy
and Rhodes design Carina, didn’t find the
cards falling in their favour on this occasion.
“It was probably one of the most challenging races I’ve
ever done,” admitted Potts, a veteran America’s Cup
and maxi boat sailor. “It was very exciting. We had light
airs, heavy airs, windward work, leeward work, challenging currents,
beautiful scenery when we got down to Tasmania and a very fine
start also. It was a very exciting race.” |
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Rives Potts' 1969 classic McCurdy & Rhodes design Carina (USA) during the 2011 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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However their
delivery from the United Kingdom didn’t leave them
with enough race preparation time prior to the start. In
addition, this was the first time Potts had competed in the
Sydney Hobart.
“It is most challenging from a weather point of view, navigation,
changing gears and I think the weather changed more rapidly than
any race I’ve ever seen. From zero wind to 30 knots and
back and we had fronts converging on each other, currents coming
from different directions. I am still giddy from it. It is a
lot of fun.”
Carina is now to be delivered back to the east
coast of the USA via Darwin, Bali, Christmas Island and
Cape Town, hopefully in time to defend her title in the
Newport-Bermuda Race. |
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Rives Potts' 1969 classic McCurdy & Rhodes design Carina (USA), during the 2011 Sydney Hobart. Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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With Hobart
preparing itself for New Year’s Eve celebrations, Maluka
of Kermandie was the last boat to arrive; finishing
at 16:48 local time, after five days, three hours and 48
minutes at sea.
Built in 1932 as a coastal cruiser fishing boat, the yacht
was being sailed by the Langman family; father Sean being
a well known Rolex Sydney Hobart competitor. But in stark
contrast to Maluka, Langman’s previous boats
have always gunned to be first across the line. Langman
was a previous co-owner of this year’s line honours
winner, Investec Loyal. This year Langman senior
handed over skippering of the boat to his 18 year-old son
Peter.
“I thought I’d show him a race with proper turned
down bed and proper meals, although having said that, the upwind
stuff was pretty bumpy and rough. In fact I won the seasickness
award. I was pretty crook that first night.” |
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Sean Langman's 1932 Ranger Maluka of Kermandie, skippered by his son Peter during the 2011 Sydney Hobart.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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This was Maluka’s third
participation in the race and according to Langman, this
year’s event provided several firsts for him; aside
from finishing last on New Year’s Eve. At the start, Maluka was
called over early and had to return to restart.
Ironically having sailed the slowest boat in the Sydney Hobart, Langman is shortly to step on to the fastest
boat in Australia, his 60 foot trimaran newly acquired
from France, to make an attempt on the course record from
Sydney to Hobart.
Further information about the Sydney Hobart Yacht
Race may be found at www.rolexsydneyhobart.com. |
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| Outimage and
Rolex © 2011-12. |
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| Photo Pages. |
| Boxing Day Sydney start from a media boat, photos by Peter Andrews. More... |
|
| Previous Articles. |
| Fri Dec 30,
2011: |
Loki declared overall
winner of Sydney Hobart. More... |
| Thur Dec 29,
2011: |
Investec Loyal declared
line honours winner of Sydney Hobart. More... |
| Thur Dec 29,
2011: |
Is Victoire appropriately
named - Sydney Hobart. More... |
| Thur Dec 29,
2011: |
Fickle Derwent River
may decide outright winner. More... |
| Wed Dec 28,
2011: |
Investec Loyal's
line honours win under protest in the Sydney Hobart. More... |
| Wed Dec 28,
2011: |
Investec Loyal wins
close finish, but there is a protest to sort out. More... |
| Wed Dec 28,
2011: |
The race is well
and truly on in the Sydney Hobart. More... |
| Wed Dec 28,
2011: |
The night chess
game - Sydney-Hobart. More... |
| Wed Nov 2,
2011: |
Even 100 nominated
- Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2011. More... |
| Tue Oct 25,
2011: |
One week until
Sydney Hobart applications for entry close. More... |
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| Produced by boats.com Europe, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinion, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors. |
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