Tony Cable closes on his 50th Sydney-Hobart race
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…
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Final Sydney-Hobart forecast suggests mid-size boats will benefit
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…
Is James Spithill the most over-qualified grinder in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart?
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…
Fast start to Rolex Sydney-Hobart as Comanche gets the drop on Wild Oats XI
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…
Perpetual Loyal is early leader in RSH as inside track pays dividends
Just over three hours into the 2014 Rolex Sydney-Hobart, the two Australian 100ft super-maxis Perpetual Loyal and Ragamuffin were leading the race for line honours by 3nm from pre-race favourites Comanche and Wild Oats XI. The US-owned Comanche showed a…
The Fork in the Road aiming for fourth line honours in Launceston to Hobart
The Fork in the Road may not be the biggest boat in the National Pies Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race, but she is a hot favourite to record her fourth line honours victory in the 285 nautical mile race starting…
Comanche and Oats close on Loyal and Ragamuffin as night falls
After five hours of the 2014 Rolex Sydney-Hobart, less than four nautical miles separates the four leaders. Comanche and Wild Oats have closed on the shoreline and on the race leaders Perpetual Loyal and Ragamuffin. Just after 6pm on Boxing…
Qingdao confirmed as Asian venue for ISAF Sailing World Cup
Qingdao, venue of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition, will host international sailors for the third consecutive year from 14-20 September 2015 with the 2016 dates to be confirmed. Spots for the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final, which will be…
Michael Coxon talks sails and Hobart predictions
Michael Coxon, Managing Director, North Sails Australia talks to Geoff Waller of Boats on TV about the present sail making technology, the future, the current Rolex Sydney Hobart and building the biggest race spinnaker in the world for Anthony Bell…
The Rolex Sydney Hobart is a women's world too
In its early days, ocean racing was a very blokey thing – hard sailing and hard drinking – back to the wife and kids on a Sunday night after a weekend offshore – so it is an interesting fact that…
Australians wanted for Clipper Round the World Race
Clipper Ventures Australia is on the hunt for Australians looking to push their limits and take on the challenge of a lifetime, the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Australians have an impressive history in the world's longest ocean race…
Rolex Sydney Hobart: Levelling the Playing Field
There’s a sense among the crews competing for a win in the inaugural Corinthian Division of the Rolex Sydney Hobart that it’s levelling a playing field that has been uneven for a while under the handicap system. “In theory, the…
Tamar yachts looking for win in Launceston to Hobart Race
Boats from northern yacht clubs have yet to win a Launceston to Hobart race since it began seven years ago but Tamar Yacht Club vice commodore John Joyce is confident the four boats contesting this coming weekend’s race are good…
Rolex Sydney Hobart: To Hobart in Style
There are two ways you can get to Hobart, there is the wet way – cold, noisy, perched on the rail dreaming of the next Mars bar – and there’s the Swan way, dry in the cockpit, savouring the aromas…
No chance at a record in 70th Rolex Sydney Hobart
Sailors in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart should watch what they eat on Christmas day or they may well watch Christmas dinner all over again on Boxing Day. At the Christmas Eve briefing at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia…
Boom damage on Wild Oats XI causes last-minute repairs for Sydney-Hobart favourite
Sydney Hobart yacht race record holder, Wild Oats XI, is the centre of an intense repair effort on the eve of the big race after suffering damage during her most recent training run. The sleek supermaxi, owned by Bob Oatley…
Offshore legend makes surprise visit to CYCA marina
Loick Peyron has won … everything in sailing possibly. He is the fastest sailor around the world, he took over a 103 foot tri two months before this year's Route du Rhum and beat his round the world 130 foot…
Team Vestas Wind off the reef and on board a container ship
ALICANTE, Spain, December 22 – Team Vestas Wind’s stranded Volvo Ocean 65 boat has been retrieved from a remote reef in the Indian Ocean and on Monday was heading on a round-trip via Mauritius and Malaysia back to Europe. After…
M32 Gold Cup winter racing gets underway in Miami
Racing for the high-performance M32 catamarans starts promptly in 2015 with sailing getting under way on 8th-11th January for the M32 Miami Winter Series. Now in its second year in the warm Florida climes, the M32’s have started to become…
Everyone's a winner as ARC rally wraps up for 2014
The 29th Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) wrapped up for another year last night (20th December) with the traditional prize-giving party in Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia. Over 1,000 ARC sailors, their friends and families celebrated the safe and successful Atlantic…
Online entries open for Sydney-Mooloolaba Race
Online entry for the Sydney to Mooloolaba Yacht Race, which starts on Sydney Harbour on Friday 27th March 2015, is now open. The race is being organised by Middle Harbour Yacht Club (MHYC) in partnership with Mooloolaba Yacht Club (MYC)….
Adventures of Tubby: Hoppalong Bourkie's tale of woe
I’m starting this with a tale of woe and a reminisce of the olden days and the hard learned rules of IOR ocean racing around the Australian coast, along with the associated yacht deliveries to and from the race track….
Strong close for McConaghy Boats in final quarter of 2014
McConaghy has been busy in the last quarter of 2014, closing its year with the 24th order for the quarter including an order for 150 Optimists. On top of this, McConaghy’s line of foiling moths, the MACH2, continues in rapid…
S&S 34 comes back from the dead for Rolex Sydney Hobart
In a sea of impressive boats preparing for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, a little 33-year-old S&S34 is turning heads. With her rich blue hull, sparkling white deck and faultless stainless steel…
New Zealand sailor suing America's Cup holder Oracle Team USA
Stuff.co.nz: New Zealand sailor Matt Mitchell is suing two-time defending America's Cup champion Oracle Team USA for the US$68,000 (NZ$87,000) he has spent on legal fees fighting accusations he helped illegally alter a catamaran used in a warm-up regatta. Mitchell filed…
Overseas yachts arriving for Mount Gay Round Barbados Race
Bridgetown, Barbados (21 December, 2014): The arrival of the first overseas yachts into Bridgetown, including British VO70 Monster Project marks the start of the countdown of the 2015 Mount Gay Round Barbados Race Series, which is taking place from 16-24…
Sydney-Hobart forecast favours smaller boats as super-maxis to sail into a hole
When Andrew Treloar from the Bureau of Meteorology delivered his long-range forecast for the Rolex Sydney-Hobart race this morning, it was all bad news for the five 100ft super-maxis. According to Treloar, a pre-frontal trough that will pass over Sydney…
Roberts focused on victory in Rolex Sydney-Hobart
Just a few days out from Boxing Day and the buzz around the docks of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia is that Ray Roberts is looking like a very good bet to win this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart. He…
Army training helps Rolex Sydney-Hobart mates when the going gets tough
There’s no doubt the returned soldiers aboard Spirit of Mateship and Southern Excellence II are the kind of blokes you want around if things went horribly wrong – and for that matter, you want them for the good stuff too…
Forecasts for the “other” Christmas offshore races vary
Yesterday saw competitors for the Tassie Trio of races attend the compulsory pre-race briefing session. Discussion ranged across a variety of safety and procedural issues but was also the first indication of the likely weather. On the 26th December for…
Yachts of yesteryear to celebrate Sydney-Hobart in Parade of Sail
The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has received overwhelming support for its Parade of Sail, to be held prior to the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on December 26, and staged in honour of the 70th Hobart and the Club’s…
Salt-water therapy keeps cancer survivor heading south to Hobart
Warwick Sherman never really wanted to do the Rolex Sydney Hobart. He’d done plenty of ocean racing, but bashing his way across Bass Strait to get to Tasmania just didn’t grab him. Perversely, all that changed when he was diagnosed…
My wife made me do it! Jim Clark talks about his new super-maxi Comanche
From CYCA interview: Comanche’s owner, Jim Clark talks on all things including “breast feeding”. He concedes that a Rolex Sydney Hobart isn’t the ideal first race for such a big, complex machine, but: “I am married to an Australian, and…
Belcher and Ryan win Copa Brasil de Vela to top off a successful 2014
World Champions Mat Belcher (QLD) and Will Ryan (QLD) have won the Men’s 470 at the “Copa Brasil de Vela” on Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay over night. A second place in Saturday’s (20 December) medal race was enough for…
'Coming home' for Victorian – via Launceston to Hobart Race
The 2014 Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race will have special significance for Melbourne yachtsman Richard Gates – culminating a return to yachting after a break of 30 years and sailing back to where he grew up. Gates, a Melbourne-based senior…
Line up of champions for Flying Dutchman Nationals and Worlds
The Flying Dutchman, regarded as one of the finest and fastest one-design dinghy classes ever designed, will return to Sydney Harbour en masse when the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron conducts the Australian and World championships, starting next week. A fleet…
Three Peaks Race joins Lord Howe Island Race “in recess”
In a dismal day for adventure style racing The Australian Three Peaks Race committee of the Mersey Yacht Club inc. announced that the 2015 Three Peaks Race has been cancelled and the organisation will go into recess. Chairman Terry Travers…
Martinez hands over the Mapfre reins to concentrate on Nacra 17 campaign
ALICANTE, Spain, December 19 – Iker Martínez (ESP) is stepping down for the next leg as skipper of MAPFRE in the Volvo Ocean Race to concentrate on a pre-arranged commitment to prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympics. His best friend…
Volvo steps up investment in Volvo Ocean Race
ALICANTE, Spain, December 19 – Volvo Cars has underlined its commitment to the Volvo Ocean Race as part of a radical new marketing strategy that was unveiled earlier this week. The company has backed the race and been joint owner of…
Clipper Race skipper to receive award for outstanding seamanship
The Cruising Club of America (CCA) has confirmed that its 2014 Rod Stephens Trophy for Outstanding Seamanship will be awarded to Sean McCarter, skipper of the Clipper 2013-14 Round the World Yacht Race Northern Irish entry Derry-Londonderry-Doire. The award is…
