Maritimo fields two entries for 2023 Sydney Hobart yacht race challenge
Luxury motor yacht maker Maritimo doubles down for Australia’s classic passage raceMaritimo, the Gold Coast-based luxury motor yacht maker that has dominated international powerboat racing, will field two boats in one of Australia’s most gruelling yacht races – the annual Sydney Hobart.
This year’s race, which starts on Sydney Harbor on Boxing Day, will see Maritimo 52, a TP52, and Maritimo 54, a Schumacher 54 cross the line at the starter’s gun with the aim of claiming race and line honours, 628 nautical miles away in Hobart.
Both boats have a rich racing pedigree, with the TP52 originally designed for the Transpac race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, and the Schumarker 54, a racing boat brought across from San Francisco.
A fleet of 113 yachts is expected to start the race this year, the 78th in its history.
Maritimo 52 will compete in the 52-foot grand prix racing yachts class against 12 other contenders in the class, including eight other TP52s.
Meanwhile, Maritimo 54 is the only Schumacher 54 entered in the race.
The 7800kg TP52 is capable of an average daily run of 320 nautical miles, while the 10,500kg Schumacher 54 averages around 250 nautical miles.
The smaller boat is skippered by 44-times Sydney Hobart race stalwart Michael Spies, while the larger one is skippered by Kendal Barry-Cotter, Maritimo founder Bill Barry-Cotter’s brother and an 11-times race veteran.
Maritimo 52’s New York-based crew member, Scott Kaufman, will celebrate 50 years since his first Sydney Hobart race victory.
Maritimo withdrew its TP52 from last year's race after experiencing equipment failure on the delivery run down from the Gold Coast, where the company's manufacturing base is located. A last-minute bid to replace the TP52 entry with the Schumacher 54 was disallowed by race organisers.
Maritimo is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding this year.
This year’s Sydney Hobart fleet is dominated by a strong number of two-handed entries, but only four maxis – four-time winner and race record-holder Andoo Comanche, last year’s runner-up Law Connect, the refurbished Hong Kong-based SHK Scallywag and the freshly rebuilt Wild Thing 100 that only hit the water for the first time earlier this week after its extensive makeover that included adding more waterline.
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