Please select your home edition
Edition
2024 fill-in (top)

Rolex Sydney Hobart Race- Race record for international entries

by info@regattanews.com on 11 Nov 2013
Skandia - Rolex Sydney Hobart Race Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi http://www.carloborlenghi.net
For the 69th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, impressive, international, competitive: the assorted fleet registered is destined to provide a spectacle befitting of the event’s colossal reputation.

A little over six weeks remain before the Boxing Day start of the annual 628-nm ocean classic running from Sydney to Hobart, often referred to as a ‘nautical rite of passage’, and sponsored by Rolex since 2002.

Event organizers Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) have confirmed that 97 yachts are registered for the race including 22 international entrants, which when calculated as a proportion of the entire fleet, represents a race record. The tally of competitors should comfortably surpass 2012’s 76 race starters.

Rarely has the front end of the fleet appeared so competitive. Six-time line honours winner and current race record holder Wild Oats XI, the 100-ft Maxi owned by Bob Oatley and skippered by Mark Richards, again starts as the boat to beat for line honours.


As identified in the accompanying infographic, Wild Oats XI currently holds the race record - setting a fastest time of one day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds in 2012 - a feat which not only secured line honours but outright victory and the coveted Tattersall’s Cup. Never one to rest on their laurels, over the past twelve months, the Wild Oats XI team has continued its longstanding quest to maximize the yacht’s speed potential.
Rambler 100 at the Rolex Fastnet Race 2011

The revamped Wild Oats XI faces competition from three fellow 100-ft Australian Maxis. Anthony Bell skippers Loyal, formerly Rambler 100. Making its long awaited Rolex Sydney Hobart debut, the yacht arrives with an unfilled reputation as the most potent racing Maxi in the world. Loyal’s crew is impressive, featuring the vastly experienced Michael Coxon and Stan Honey, while welcoming an event debutant - 2010 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year and America’s Cup winner Tom Slingsby. Ragamuffin, expertly skippered by Australian sailing legend Syd Fischer, 86 years young and with 44 Rolex Sydney Hobart races to his name, narrowly won line honours in 2011 under its guise as Bell’s Investec Loyal. The outside bet, Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing has recently undergone structural changes designed to improve performance. She claimed line honours back in 2003.
Beau Geste at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009


A fifth 100-ft yacht, the Farr 100 Zefiro, arrives all the way from Cyprus, one of a rich array of international entrants which includes Karl Kwok’s new 80-ft Beau Geste from Hong Kong. Kwok won the competition in 1997 with his Farr 49 of the same name. Yachts from Germany, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom complete the international line-up, an impressive haul when considering the logistical commitment required in delivering a boat to Australia.

The fleet comprises 15 new boats as well as five yachts to have won the race, the most recent returning winner being Secret Men’s Business 3.5 (2010), fresh from appearing at the Rolex Fastnet and now sailing under new ownership as Primitive Cool.





Pantaenius 2022 - SAIL FOOTER AUSHyde Sails 2024 - One DesignRolly Tasker Sails 2023 FOOTER

Related Articles

Maxi Cup 2024 | Video on Scallywag's Bow
What the action is like up-close on the bow of a 100 footer when there's breeze Ever wondered what the action is like up-close on the bow of a 100 footer when the breeze is on?
Posted today at 10:08 pm
Etchells Worlds entries closing on 30 November
Just one more week to enter the Melbourne event The 2025 Etchells Worlds entries close in just over a week and the competition is continuing to ramp up at the Royal Brighton Yacht Club (RBYC).
Posted today at 8:46 pm
Vendée Globe Race - Day 14 - Mind the Gap
Almost half the fleet are now across the Equator and into the Southern Hemisphere Of the 39 boats still racing in the Vendée Globe most are now out of the Doldrums and almost half are now across the Equator in the Southern Hemisphere. Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) led the fleet across last night at 1910hrs yesterday evening.
Posted today at 5:20 pm
49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 sailors in SailGP
A look at the sailors from our classes competing this weekend The fifth season of SailGP launches this weekend in Dubai, bringing together 11 national teams and some of the world's best sailors.
Posted today at 4:12 pm
Dylan Fletcher race ready for his return to SailGP
At the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas this weekend Dylan Fletcher is race ready for his return to SailGP, after taking on the Driver role for Ben Ainslie's Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix Team.
Posted today at 2:57 pm
Race for the Rolex SailGP Championship begins
With the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix this weekend This weekend, the most exciting racing on water returns to the iconic city of Dubai - marking the official start of SailGP's most expansive season to date.
Posted today at 1:50 pm
ETNZ ranked #5 in major sport brands
Emirates Team NZ has been ranked at #5 on the global Sports Technology Power List In the 2024 Sports Technology Annual Review and Power List published Friday, Emirates Team New Zealand has been ranked at #5 on the global Sports Technology Power List by The STA Group who champions the best sports technology globally.
Posted today at 1:23 pm
Vendée Globe Friday Morning Update
Charlie Dalin on MACIF Santé Prévoyance has taken the lead The leaders in the Vendée Globe have now crossed the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere and are enjoying blast reaching conditions.
Posted today at 11:39 am
World Sailing publishes a new strategy
'Ready for the Future' focuses on four priorities for the sport World Sailing has officially launched its new strategy, Ready for the Future, which will guide the sport from 2025 to 2029.
Posted today at 11:08 am
Boris Herrmann Crosses Equator
In the hunt, in the Vendée Globe Early this Friday morning at 05:44 UTC (06:44 CET), Boris Herrmann was the 14th solo sailor to cross the Equator after 11 days, 17 hours, 42 minutes, and 42 seconds of competition in the iconic round-the-world race.
Posted today at 9:24 am