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Defending champion The Fork in the Road last night took line honours in the National Pies Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race, slashing three-and-a-hours off the race record. Skippered by former world champion and Olympic sailor Gary Smith, the Bakewell-White 45…
It is inconceivable for most of us to understand the frustration of being within a single nautical mile of the finish and have the wind shut down on you completely. That is what happened to Gusto at the mouth of…
After three days of fantastic Port Phillip weather, the 2014 OK Dinghy World Championship was opened on a hot and sunny Sunday evening at Black Rock Yacht Club, Melbourne, Australia. Following the official opening of the regatta, there followed three…
After the exciting finish to the Rolex Sydney Hobart between Wild Oats XI and Comanche, the officials at the finish line had a long night checking in the next 10 competitors. It wasn't until 2.26am that the third finisher, Syd…
The entire fleet of 24 boats in the National Pies Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race should be tied up at Elizabeth Street Pier by lunchtime today – in time for a feed of the sponsor’s famous pies. The 285 nautical…
Illawarra Mercury. By Bree Fuller: It was the maiden voyage that dreams were supposed to be made of, but Melbourne skipper Damien Smith got more than he bargained for when his new yacht, All That Jazz, lived up to its name….
Shortly, the winner of the Tattersalls Trophy, the ultimate prize in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, will be awarded to the winning skipper on Constitution Dock. Along with a Rolex watch. I don't know who it will be, which…
As the boats dock in Hobart so do the stories. Everyone has a tale to tell, some funny, some of outright terror, some apocryphal to tell about the Rolex Sydney Hobart. This morning Daryl Hodgkinson jumped off his Cookson 50…
Ever wondered about the cost of breaking and damaging gear – and the repercussions of it in a long race such as the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race? Well wonder no longer. Three boat owners confidentially whispered this morning “Don’t…
The New Zealand Volvo 70 Giacomo limped into Kings Street Pier in Hobart at midday today, minus her towering rig, her crew dejected but determined to come back and do the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race again. Owner, Jim Delegat,…
Cockburn Sound Regatta began the second day of competition in perfect sailing conditions. A light to moderate south westerly under a cloudless sky made sailing a joy. Division 3 and Premier Cruising division both set out for their passage race…
Have a look at the IRC standings, the list of boats leading the Rolex Sydney Hobart overall on handicap; it’s a long time since such venerable names have graced the top of the list en masse as they do today….
Three very long-standing Australian members of the OK Dinghy class were inducted into the OKDIA Hall of Fame during the opening ceremony of the 2014 World Championship at Black Rock Yacht Club, Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday 28 December. Bill Bell,…
Bruce Taylor and the crew of his Caprice 40 Chutzpah would have been sipping nervously at their beer. In Hobart since 10.49 when they were ranked well below 20th on the IRC table, one by one they have seen the yachts…
Wild Rose has crossed the finish line at Hobart and her owner Roger Hickman now looks likely to win the Tattersalls Trophy for handicap honours in the 2014 Rolex Sydney Hobart. When the 29-year-old Farr 43 finished just before 8pm…
The 10-year-old super maxi Wild Oats XI had a good run during the second night of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and now looks to have the defence of her line honours title in hand. Shortly after 7am on…
With fast spinnaker running conditions forecast for all the way from Low Head to Tasman Island, the entire 24 boat fleet in the Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race could finish by Monday evening, with a race record also on the…
If anyone was on their first ocean race they well may be wondering what all the fuss is about when people speak of Bass Strait in reverential terms. No wind reduces it to just another piece of water, photos from…
Skate skippers from around the country gathered at Cockburn Sound to compete in their 2014 national championship. The little 14 footers with their distinctive hiking planks have been updated to incorporate many features found on more recent designs, including asymmetric…
Bob Oatley's 100ft super-maxi Wild Oats XI was the first of the yachts in the Rolex Sydney Hobart to pass Tasman Island, the southern-most point in the 628nm race. The big silver beast passed the landmark at 11.45 this morning…
The Catalina Owners Lake Macquarie Rendezvous (# 10) will be held from January 2-4, 2014 at Royal Motor Yacht Club, Toronto. This regatta is for the owners and guests of Catalina yachts who have got over the silly season and…
The Eastcoaster race fleet have struggled with a complete lack of wind overnight, at the moment the measure at Hogan Island has them in 10 – 12 knots East South Easterlies. In a tactical difference XLR8 has stayed on the…
The crew work and light airs performance of Bob Oatley's 100ft super-maxi Wild Oats XI was just too good for the opposition in the Rolex Sydney Hobart this year. Comanche, the high-tech newcomer from the USA was valiant in defeat…
According to a BBC report, the discovery of an empty yacht off Jersey on Christmas Day prompted a major search for a missing man. Roy Deeming's yacht, Desiree, was found drifting off La Corbiere at approximately 12:00 GMT with no-one…
It was shaping as a race within a race. Peter Harburg's Black Jack from Queensland and Jim Delegat's Giacomo from New Zealand are both Volvo 70s which raced in the last Volvo Ocean Race as Telefonica and Groupama. Ever since…
“This is the sweetest victory by far,” Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards declared today after steering the silver-grey thoroughbred to a record eighth line honours victory in the Rolex Sydney Hobart “To rewrite a bit of sailing history doesn’t…
As far as the America’s Cup winning skipper Jimmy Spithill is concerned, there is now unfinished business between Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winner Wild Oats XI and the US supermaxi she beat across the finish line, Comanche. Spithill was…
The lovely 21 year-old maxi Brindabella has been forced to retire from the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race this evening, a sixth victim of the bone shaking conditions off the New South Wales coast this afternoon. Brad Kellett, Brindabella’s sailing…
“He followed like a bloodhound on their track” is a line from Banjo Patterson's famous poem The Man From Snowy River. The words could be ringing in the ears of Camanche navigator Stan Honey as he sees Mark Richard's Wild…
One of the supermaxis vying for line honours in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Anthony Bell’s Perpetual Loyal, has retired and is returning to her home club at Rose Bay in Sydney. The crew believes the yacht may have…
8am this morning saw skippers and navigators gathered for the compulsory pre race briefing. Nick McGuigan and Donald Fraser took the participants through the all important safety briefing before Fraser revealed the up to date weather forecast. Whilst there are…
As the 2014 Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race enters its second day, seven-times line honours champion Wild Oats XI has shown she will not give up her title without a fight. After following close on the transom of Comanche since the…
By Grand Prix ocean racing standards she’s an old girl, and there’s no denying she’s had a few makeovers during the past decade, but Bob Oatley’s 30-metre long supermaxi, Wild Oats XI, was leaving no doubt today that when it…
The Royal Gazette: Dr Stanley Paris has been forced to abandon his attempt to become the fastest person to sail solo around the world after suffering damage to his yacht Kiwi Spirit in the middle of the Southern Atlantic Ocean….
Will the 70th edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race have been decided between lunch and tea today? That’s the conclusion that one might well draw from the huge difference in the performance of the Hamilton Island supermaxi Wild…
Chicken pies, the gooseneck and the voodoo stick were the last items to be ticked off today in Wild Oats XI’s preparation for a record-breaking bid in the Rolex Sydney Hobart race, which starts on Sydney Harbour at 1pm today….
Tony Cable just keeps going on. Last year he finished his 48th Sydney Hobart, setting a record for the number of races by an individual – this year it is number 49 – 49 not out, just one off the…
The forecast for the 70th Sydney-Hobart Race is generally benign for most of the fleet, with winds not expected to exceed 30 knots until Monday night, when a cold front crosses Tasmania. Andrew Treloar from the Bureau of Meteorology told…
America’s Cup winning skipper Jimmy Spithill could well be the most overqualified grinder you’ll see in action in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Rolex Sydney Hobart start line today. “He’s been a wonderful team player and literally in the…
To reef or not to reef, that was the question during the pre-start of the 2014 Rolex Sydney-Hobart. Wild Oats had one in, as did Ragamuffin and Rio 100 but Comanche and Perpetual Loyal thought they could carry full main…
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