Rolex Sydney-Hobart

This year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Race will be the 67th edition of the famous blue water event that began in 1945. Alongside the Fastnet in England and the Newport Bermuda Race in the USA it ranks as one of the world’s classic yacht races and it has impressive statistics to match its status.

The great race south, of 628 nautical miles, will start from Sydney Harbour at 1.00pm on Boxing Day, December 26, as it has traditionally done since that inaugural race when the smallest number of entrants, nine, headed south. The inaugural winner was Englishman Captain John Illingsworth R.N on the 35ft yacht Rani that took six days, 14 hours and remains the smallest yacht ever to win line honours. Another record was set back then as well by Peter Luke, skipper of Wayfarer, who took a sedate 11 days, six hours to reach Hobart.

The post-war years saw the race steadily grow, passing the 100 mark in 1975, until its zenith in 1994. For the 50th anniversary race in 1994 an unsurpassed record of 374 yachts entered, requiring an unprecedented three start lines for the 4000 sailors competing. Heading the fleet was one of the race’s largest ever competitors, the 84 foot Tasmania skippered by Robert Clifford which went on to break the long standing record for line honours held by Kioala III since 1975, taking two days, 16 hours.

The coveted Line Honours record is held by the yacht Morna/Kurrewa IV that dominated the 1945-1960 era with a staggering seven wins, something the modern raft of supermaxis will do well to match. But with an incredible five line honours the 100 foot supermaxi Wild Oats XI with experienced skipper Mark Richards is closing in and starts favourite again this year. Size very much matters when it comes to the holy grail of chasing Line Honours, something Victorian Grant Wharrington was first to realise in the last decade when he introduced the biggest yacht ever into the race in 2003, with the triumphant 98 foot Skandia. Renamed Wild Thing and painted black this year Wharrington’s strategy is to lighten the ageing yacht by reducing the number of sails aboard while also carrying minimum crew.

Back then, alongside the similar-sized New Zealand entry Zana, these boats heralded a new era of high-technology yachts that included the use of canting keels -- an innovation that allowed a 40 per cent reduction in crew numbers.

The statistics continue to grow as well, with 2009’s race witnessing the era of the 100ft supermaxi, as many of the 98 footers were extended. Like sister races the Rolex Fastnet and the Transpac, the Hobart now has a 100ft size limit. Back then, in 2009, the new rules created a record breaking seven boat monster fleet comprising Wild Oats XI, ICAP Leopard, Investec Loyal, Wild Thing (formerly Skandia), Rapture, Lahana and Alfa Romeo.

Neville Crichton’s 100ft Reichel Pugh designed Alfa Romeo also used a world-first tungsten keel bulb in that race which she won, ahead of arch rival Wild Oats XI. Unofficially, the largest yacht ever to have taken part is the146ft Marie-Cha III that sailed with the fleet in 1999. Other interesting anecdotes about this strictly monohull race are the rumours of occasional catamarans that have shadowed the fleet and sailors on the rail brushing their deckshoes on lounging sunfish.

Accolades for this famous race are many but the most coveted trophy by the mass of the fleet is the Tattersall’s Cup for the handicap winner. Based on a time corrected factor (TCF) allotted according to the size and build of the yacht, it is intended to give every competitor a fair go. This is the incentive that every modest but well-prepared yacht and crew has in their mind at race start on Boxing Day. To date this record is jointly held by the yachts Freya and Love & War who both have three wins.

Unlike the carbon supermaxis, longevity is a characteristic of these older boats with the record for most Hobart race participation going to the Melbourne yacht Bacardi which has 27 races to its name and one more under the name Spotlight. Bacard is racing again this year after breaking her mast in last year's Sydney to Hobart. Another interesting record is held by boat builder Sean Langman’s refurbished Maluka of Kermandie for the oldest boat participating at 77 years young. It also just squeezed past the race minimum size limit with a length of 9.1m.

The newest yacht this year is the recently-completed AFR Midnight Rambler, a Ker 40 built by McConaghy Boats in China. The lightweight flyer is owned by veterans Ed Psaltis, Bob Thomas and Michael Bencsik who have a done 75 Hobarts between them, so know their way south.