Rolex Sydney Hobart - Winning - part of Perpetual Loyal’s winning crew

by Barbara Campos on 29 Dec 2016 John Winning, CEO of Appliances Online and Winning Group, was a team member of the crew that won line honours in the 2016 Sydney to Hobart yacht race in record time on Perpetual Loyal.

Perpetual Loyal arrived in Hobart at 02:30am on Wednesday 28 December, beating Wild Oats XI’s 2012 record by almost five hours. This was Winning’s second time sailing in the Sydney to Hobart but his first time finishing after Perpetual Loyal was forced to retire due to rudder damage in 2015.

Of the win, Winning says, “I love being the underdog and winning when no one expects it. We had a good crew, a great boat and were sailing for a great cause so it was amazing to come back after not finishing last year’s race to take the line honours and set a new record.

“I learnt to sail from my dad, who is a champion sailor and has sailed the Sydney to Hobart five times, winning line honours in 1976. It’s always been a dream of mine to sail the Sydney to Hobart for line honours and to set a new record so do this with one of my good mates Tom Slingsby on board was more than I could have asked for.”