They played cat and mouse with each other. And each of the three boats was temporarily ahead in the battle for line honours in the 80th Rolex Sydney Hobart Race: "Master Lock Comanche", "LawConnect" and also "SKH Scallywag". But in the final sprint, Matt Allan, James Mayo and their crew finally pulled away with "Master Lock Comanche" after an exciting final day. Their victory tastes particularly sweet this year, like a balm on the wounds from last year. The youngest of the hundred-foot yachts had to retire early in the race with a tear in the mainsail.
Rolex Sydney Hobart Race: Experience of more than 260 participations on one boat
If you add up the Rolex Sydney Hobart Races that "Master Lock Comanche's" exquisite crew has already competed in, you get an incredible 263 editions. With this concentrated experience on board, the 30.48 metre VPLP/Verdier design was the first yacht to cross the finish line of the 628 nautical mile Christmas classic after 2 days, 5 hours, 3 minutes and 36 seconds. 47 minutes and 4 seconds later, Christian Beck's "LawConnect" crossed the finish line, beaten this time.
Third place in the battle for line honours went to Seng Huang Lee's "SHK Scallywag" with skipper David Witt, 23 minutes and 20 seconds after "LawConnect". None of the three top yachts even came close to the race record time from 2017. This was set by "Master Lock Comanche" itself in the best conditions with 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds. These days also brought back memories of the 2023 experienced a thriller in the Rolex Sydney Hobart RaceChristian Beck's "LawConnect" had beaten her rival, still sailing as "Andoo Comanche", by 51 seconds at the finish after a thrilling duel.
Once again, the crew on Bryon Erhart's US yacht "Lucky" performed remarkably well, finishing 20 minutes after "SHK Scallywag" in fourth place. Previously, the ex-"Rambler 88" had stubbornly nibbled away at the sterns of the hundred-foot giants. The "Lucky" crew even had the XL competition well in sight at times and was able to outpace larger boats such as "Palm Beach XI", which won the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race nine times as the former "Wild Oats XI" and had crew members such as the highly experienced Australian America's Cup sailor and manager Grant Simmer on board.
"Lucky" heats up the hundred-foot competition
Lucky" was also loaded with concentrated expertise from the America's Cup and other areas of international regatta sport. Four-time America's Cup winner Brad Butterworth, star boat world champion and match race ace Hamish Pepper and other top players contributed to the success. The "Lucky" crew could do nothing to change the line honours victory of "Master Lock Comanche" and three hundred-foot bullets on the podium of the 80th edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. It remains to be seen what their performance can achieve in the battle for victory in the IRC overall standings.
The 20-strong "Master Lock Comanche" crew with navigator Andy Green and top professionals such as Ocean Race veteran Pablo Arrate and former Olympic and America's Cup sailor, 18-foot world champion, designer and America's Cup regatta manager Iain Murray were the first boat to cross the finish line. Click here for the intermediate results in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race by time sailed.
Jost Stollmann's 24-metre Solaris 80rs "Alithia" worked its way up to 16th place in terms of time sailed during the race and defended this position on the morning of 28 December. On Sunday morning, the crew with Freddy and Arno Böhnert from Hamburg still had a good 200 nautical miles to go to Hobart on the "blue water yacht", but were in sixth place in their PHS division at the time.
Who will win the Tattersall Cup?
In the battle for the coveted Tattersall Cup, Sam Haynes' "Celestial V70" led the IRC standings ahead of the JPK 10.30 "Min River" and the JPK 10.80 "BNC - my::NET". As the race continued, the two JPKs were also leading in this order in the two-handed classification of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race in the lead.
