2024 will be a year to remember for Rob Date and the crew of Scarlet Runner with the Carkeek 43 from the Sandringham Yacht Club winning the Heemskerk Perpetual Trophy awarded to the overall winner of the 52nd Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race.
The prestigious trophy is awarded to first place overall on corrected time on AMS handicap.
Joining Date onboard Scarlet Runner was his gun crew of Samantha Chandler, Andrew Freese, Matt Fuller, Matthew Lindsay, Greg Patten, James Sly, Tim Smith, David Sturge and Alex Gilbert.
Date accepted the Heemskerk Trophy from Hobart City Council Alderman John Kelly at today’s presentation on Hobart’s waterfront.
The event was hosted by Cyrus Allen, Commodore of the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) with Nick Connor, Commodore of the Derwent Sailing Squadron, who were surrounded by sailors, families, holiday makers and supporters of the local sailing community.
Tragic loss acknowledged
In a somewhat subdued presentation, Allen opened proceedings with a minute’s silence as the crowd stood shoulder to shoulder to acknowledge the tragic loss of Nick Smith and Roy Quaden in this year’s Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
In what were tough and testing conditions for the 2024 Melbourne to Hobart fleet, Scarlet Runner hit top speeds of close to 26 knots in the reaching race, finishing just outside the race record for monohulls, and taking a clean sweep of all handicap divisions.
While Date felt that their slow trip across Bass Strait and the light winds up the River Derwent cost them the record, he was ecstatic with his line honours win and handicap success, putting it down to the experience of his crew and the recent fine tuning of the boat.
“We’ve had a good race, it was windy, it was good fun.
“When we knew the record was in reach we talked about it, but it’s all really about the weather.
“We had a slow trip across Bass Strait and so that’s where we dropped the time I suspect, it was too much on the nose and too much of a beat across Bass Strait, and then a slow beat up the River [Derwent].
Wrest Point Abel Tasman Trophy
Date picked up the Wrest Point Abel Tasman Trophy for the monohull line honours winner, the City of Melbourne Perpetual Trophy for the first monohull on performance handicap, and won also the ORC handicap.
In a fitting end to a highly successful race year, Greg Patten was awarded the Zeehan Perpetual Trophy Trophy as navigator of the overall winner, Scarlet Runner.
Patten was very happy with this year’s results but “really wanted that record too”.
“It wasn’t a particularly challenging race tactically for a navigator, except for the River [Derwent], but there were a few miles to be made here and there…I noticed a lot of people went straight down the rhumbline out of the Heads and to the top of Tassie which was not the fastest way to get there.
“But really the challenge for me as navigator was keeping the crew pushing the boat as hard as possible.
“We spent a lot of time looking at the polars and percentages, making sure the boat was going as fast as it was designed to go because it’s very easy to get complacent as you get more comfortable, but of course the faster the boat goes the less comfortable it is.
“Keeping everyone informed on what the plans were in the race was important too…I like to share everything with everyone, so we are all on the same page all the time,” said Patten.
Patten was full of praise for the winning crew and thrilled to be onboard.
“We had a fabulous crew, l loved sailing with them…Rob is fantastic, he let us go and do our own thing which was pretty amazing…he’s a very trusting fellow, but he also assembled a fairly exceptional crew for the race, I was very blessed to be on this one,” said Patten.
Rookie Skipper
Dennis Ward, skipper of race newcomer Kioni from the ORCV and Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron (RMYS), was a popular winner of the Alan Collins “Rookie Skipper” prize awarded to the best performing “first time” skipper as assessed by the Race Director for his consistency on the helm of his Beneteau 47.7.
Ward was humbled to receive the award and paid credit to his enthusiastic crew and mentors who have generously shared all things sailing with him over the last few years.
“We had a good race, it suited us with our big heavy boat.
“The crew and I had the time of our lives, it was great!” said Ward.
Ward, who has only been sailing for a few years but has thrown himself into the sport with great vigour, started his career doing courses at the RMYS and spent a lot of time sailing with Ron Brown on his boat Buck, with Brown to become an important mentor in the years leading up to this year’s Westcoaster.
“It’s been a big learning curve, but Ron taught me the basics, and a lot of what he taught me got applied during the race, including sailing low and fast – it’s a long way to Tasmania so you didn’t have to be hard on the breeze the whole time, which is what we did at the start of the race – I think we sailed lower and faster than most boats,” said Ward.
Ward also acknowledged the input from fellow sailors Justin Brenan, skipper of Alien, the advice of Andrew McConchie, ‘PJ’, Peter Davison and his E Row neighbours at the RMYS.
Speaking with ORCV Media after the race, Ward was brought to tears discussing his crew and was profoundly thankful for their commitment, support and their growing boating skills, but also reflected upon some funny moments onboard.
“I made a conscious choice to rely on and trust the people that had been training with us all year, they’re not experienced ocean racers but they had put in the hard yards.
“I’ve never sailed a race without Imara [Navarro ruiz] onboard, neither her nor I had helmed in those conditions with confused seas and sailing really deep…but Imara and I were on shift together and we really nailed it…I’m really proud of that for both of us.
“In fact, Imara keeps breaking out in tears because she can’t believe she got the opportunity to helm and sail the race…she can’t believe she actually did it!
“Peter McFarlane was our rockstar super-experienced sailing master who slotted into our crew dynamic easily and was fantastic,” said Ward.
One highlight of the race that they will carry with them for some time was their ‘gybing practice’ around the bottom of Tasmania and the magic of the West Coast of Tasmania.
“I went around Maatsuyker Island and helmed across to South East Cape… we had dolphins and seals, rainbows and a beautiful dawn which was pretty special for me.
“We are a safety conscious boat so we planned to do a granny tack at the bottom of Tasmania, so the guys were all setting up for the granny rounding and the team accidentally gybed, so instead of just holding that, they gybed back so that they could then do the safe gybe…they must have been super focused on the safety gybe…which they did and then did another gybe and another granny tack, which was pretty funny,” said Ward.
Edward Henty Perpetual Trophy
Westcoast stalwart Justin Brenan, skipper of Alien, the Lidgard 36 from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria (RYCV), won the Edward Henty Perpetual Trophy awarded to second place on AMS handicap.
This year’s race conditions were not ideal for Brenan, a five time winner of the Heemskerk Trophy and his seasoned crew, but they enjoyed the race and the welcome into Hobart.
Batman Perpetual Trophy
Tim and Clare Olding, co-skippers of the fully crewed monohull Vertigo, also from the RYCV, took out the Batman Perpetual Trophy for third place overall on AMS handicap and finished in third place on ORC.
After retiring last year with gear damage part way down the West Coast, Clare, the youngest skipper in the fleet, was thrilled to complete the 2024 race alongside her father with her experience and prowess on the helm a key ingredient in their success.
Father/daughter co-skippers, Megan and Richard Grant sailed the Knoop 39 Magellan to win the double-handed division on performance handicap, while Quest, skippered by Peter Tardrew and Rod Gunther won line honours in the double-handed division.
Multihull division
In the multihull division, Rushour, skippered by Drew Carruthers from the Multihull Yacht Club of Queensland, won line honours for the first multihull to Hobart setting a new race record along the way of 1 day 13 hours 31 minutes and 50 seconds.
“I’ve been through a lot of low pressure storms in the Southern Ocean and I know how bad it can get, but the boat handled it beautifully,” said Carruthers.
“I’m very pleased I’ve done the race, I mean sailing around the bottom of Tasmania is very enjoyable, its beautiful big swells, it’s not really about the sailing, it it a wild and unique place,” said Carruthers.
Charles Meredith, skipper of the Charles White 46 multihull Peccadillo from the RMYS, won the Port Phillip Sea Pilots Trophy for the first yacht to exit Port Phillip Heads.
Commodore Allen presented the Robin Hewitt trophy for clocking up 10 Westcoasters to Rod Langham and acknowledged the milestone of 20 Westcoaster races to Paul Neilson and Ashley Bartle, reflecting upon the tough but quick race to Hobart.
“We had somewhat heavy conditions around South West of Tasmania which challenged all boats and crews yet provided a fast race this year with all competitors arriving in Hobart by the 30th of December.
“Congratulations to Scarlet Runner for their outstanding performance leading the monohull fleet all the way to Hobart, and a special mention to the double-handed crews who certainly had their work cut out for them, using the Westcoaster to qualify for the upcoming Melbourne to Osaka Double Handed Race in March 2025.
“The ORCV is also delighted that more multihull competitors are entering this classic blue water event, and that ocean racers continue to enjoy one of the world’s great ocean races,” said Allen.
ORCV Race Director David Schuller, who has managed this event for three years, was a happy man at the start of the presentations this afternoon.
“This year’s race was a fantastic event.
“We’ve got such a variation in our competitors – six double-handers and three multihulls made it to Hobart.
“Scarlet Runner has been really trying…Rob Date has been working really hard to get his boat ready.
“I spoke with some of his crew this morning – they are a very disciplined group, and they really took the prize, their hard work has paid off,” said Schuller.
Several boats competing in the double-handed division were using the Westcoaster as a qualifier for the upcoming Melbourne to Osaka Double Handed Race which helped grow the double-handed division this year.
The ORCV is the on-water manager for the Osaka race and is committed to providing ongoing support to the double-handed competitors.
“Some of the boats were literally ready just days before the race – the ORCV has just been fantastic, we got them on their way, they raced safely and they raced well, and it was a great experience for all of them,” said Schuller.
Full results here: https://www.orcv.org.au/results/2024-25/2024M2H/series.htm?ty=71678
AMS
1st & Heemskerk Perpetual Trophy Winner – Scarlet Runner (SM13), Rob Date
2nd Alien (R880), Justin Brenan
3rd Vertigo (R935), Tim Olding
ORC
1st Scarlet Runner
2nd Maverick (SM3600) Rod Smallman and Alex Toomey
3rd Vertigo
PHS
1st Scarlet Runner
2nd Kioni (0477) Dennis Ward
3rd Alien
Double Handed PHS
1st Magellan (K1) Richard and Megan Grant
2nd Maverick
3rd Quest (R9090) Peter Tardrew and Rod Gunther
Multihull PHS & OMR
1st Rushour (8) Drew Carruthers
2nd Resolute II (1481) Kenneth Gibson
3rd Peccadillo (S4) Charles Meredith
Line Honours:
Multihull – Rushour, setting a new race record of 1d 13h 31m 50s
Monohull – Scarlet Runner
For Entry, Notice of Race and List of Entries, please visit: https://www.orcv.org.au/hobart/m2hyachts
Jane Austin/ORCV media
Website www.orcv.org.au
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OceanRacingClub
About ORCV: A leading authority on ocean sailing, racing and training in Australia, the Club was formed so that ocean races in Victorian waters could be efficiently developed and run by an organisation focusing specifically on the needs of ocean racers.
Interested in seeing more Offshore News?
