Congratulations to Andoo Comanche and LawConnect as the two yachts Doyle powered yachts to reach Hobart first. The annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race consistently brings the best yachts and sailors to Sydney, where they all begin their journey south to Hobart on Boxing Day hoping to win arguably two of the world’s most recognisable sailing trophies in the world – the Tattersall Cup for the overall IRC winner and the John H Illingworth Challenge Cup for the boat that takes line honours and reaches Hobart first.
This year a total of four super maxi’s vied for line honours. After an intense battle to lead out of the Sydney heads on Boxing Day with fifty percent of the maxis doing penalty turns, it was Andoo Comanche that consistently led the fleet south, followed closely by InfoTrack.
Andoo Comanche 0056 AEST, 28th December
LawConnect 0123 AEST, 28th December
The following excerpt is taken from Live Sail Die.
After a few wee incidents at the start of the race on the 26th of December 2022, Andoo Comanche, helmed by John “Herman” Winning Jnr has taken line honours in the 77th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
The 100-foot maxi, which set the current race record back in 2017 (LDV Comanche / Jim Cooney & Samantha Grant), crossed the finish line in Hobart on 28 Dec at 12:56:48 AM giving them an elapsed time of 01:11:56:48.
Herman set out to win line honours – that was his ultimate goal. As the new kid on the block, he had a lot to prove. But he was backed up by a stellar crew led by Iain Murray as the Sailing Master and Justin Shaffer as navigator, and let’s mention that his dad John “Woody Winning Sr was on board as well. And let’s say all the crew – because, at the end of the day, you need an army to sail a yacht like Andoo Comanche!
Richard Allanson, Pablo Arrarte, Julien Cressant, Antonio Cuervas Mons, Nathan Dean, Peter Dean, Damien Durchon, Fraser Edwards, Sam Fay, Philip Jameson, Seve Jarvin, Campbell Knox, Antonio Mons, Sam Newton, Sven Runow, Justin Slattery, Harry Smith, Edward Smyth, Matt Stenta, Graeme Taylor, Andre Vorster.
The next boat to finish was LawConnect (Christian Beck), followed by 2021 Line Honours winner Black Jack (Peter Harburg with Mark Bradford) and then rounding out the 100 footers is Hamilton Island Wild Oats (The Oatley Family and Mark Richards).
Andoo Comanche was flying a protest flag as they crossed the finish line, results are provisional.
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