Rolex Sydney Hobart two-line start

by Peter Campbell on 24 Dec 2007 The 82 boat fleet in 63rd Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race will start simultaneously at 1300 hours today, Boxing Day, from two starting lines on Sydney Harbour.

The lines, running east to west across the harbour north of Shark Island, will be about 400 metres apart, with 30 of the biggest and fastest boats in the fleet starting from the northern line, the remaining 52 from the southern line.

To make up for the difference between the lines, the northern line boats will sail 400m further north at the Heads before rounding Mark Victor near North Head while those on the southern line will round Mark X-ray, just north of South Head.

From these marks, the fleet will head one nautical mile eastward out to sea where they will all leave Mark Zulu to starboard before setting a southerly course towards Tasmania.

Boats on the northern line range from the super maxis City Index Leopard, Skandia and Wild Oats XI to the IRC 40 Chutzpah and the radical 40-footer Mr Kite.

Also in this group are many of the favourites for IRC handicap honours, including the American Transpac 65 Rosebud and the Australian Transpac 52s Cougar II, Ragamuffin and Wot Yot, along with the 55-footer Yendys, the Cookson 50s Living Doll and Quantum Racing and the Corby 49 Limit.

Three Volvo 60s will be lining up on the northern line, DHL – The Daily Telegraph, George Gregan Foundation and the British entry Hugo Boss II.

Boats on the southern line include all the Sydney 38s, headed by Lou Abrahams’ Challenge in which the veteran Victorian yachtsman will be sailing his 44th race to Hobart, along with other smaller boats with IRC overall handicap prospects such as AFR Midnight Rambler, Balance, Impeccable, Mr Beaks Ribs and Zephyr.

The CYCA yesterday announced the break-up of yachts into divisions of yachts with a similar rating and predicted performance.

Boats rated under IRC will compete in five divisions: 0, 1, 2,3 and 4, while those entered under PHS have been split into two divisions. In addition, there is a Sydney 38 one design division (most Sydney 38s are also racing under IRC as well as one-design) and a cruising division.

IRC Division 0 comprises yachts racing with canting keels, including the 30m super maxis City Index Leopard from the UK and the two Australian super maxis Skandia and Wild Oats XI, the former Volvo 70 Ichi Ban and the Cookson 50 Quantum Racing.

IRC Division 1 includes the faster conventional keeled yachts in the 50 to 65-foot overall length group, the highest rated boat being Rosebud from the USA on 1.509, the lowest the Farr 50 Goldfinger on 1.292.

IRC Division 2 comprises ten well-performed boats, ranging in LOA from 40 to 56 feet. Highest rating boat is the West Australian boat Knee Deep on 1.276, the lowest the Queensland entrant Wedgetail on 1.202. Also in this division is another WA-owned boat, Limit, one of the favourites for overall IRC honours, along with the British boat Jazz and the new Victorian flyer Chutzpah.

IRC Division 3 is the biggest in the fleet, comprising 28 boats mostly in the 40-foot LOA range or thereabouts, including the modified Farr 40s AFR Midnight Rambler and Splash Gordon.

The Sydney 38s such as Challenge and Zen are also racing in IRC Division 3 as are a clutch of Beneteau 47.7s and Sydney 47s including the well-performed Balance, Mr Beaks Ribs and Pretty Fly II. Also racing in IRC Division 3 is the first Mexican entrant in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, the Beneteau 40.7 Iataia. A dark horse could be the well rated Archambault 40 Papillon.

IRC Division comprises a dozen of the oldest and smallest boats in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, including the veterans Spirit of Koomooloo from Queensland, Stormy Petrel and Impeccable from New South Wales and Huckleberry from Western Australia and the much-traveled Berrimilla also from NSW.

Berrimilla, with a rating of 0.891 has the lowest IRC handicap in the entire fleet, while Huckleberry’s rating is 0.920.

The three Volvo 60s are racing in PHS Division 1 along with the one-time line honours winner Toyota Aurion V6 (formerly Brindabella) and the radical Pogo 40 Krakatoa II.

Among the line-up in PHS Division 2 is Phillips Foote Witchdoctor, this year making its 27th voyage south.

The Sydney 38 One Design division totals ten boats, three from Victoria, the rest from NSW .

The sole entrant in the Cruising Division is the Oyster 55 Capriccio of Rhu, one of six British entrants in the 2007 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Revised Div List and Startline

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2007
Provisional Division List
IRC Division 0
SailNo	Name	Owner	State	Design	TCC
GBR1R	City Index Leopard	Mike Slade	UK	Maxi 30m	1.855
AUS 03	Ichi Ban	Matt Allen	NSW	Jones 70	1.601
8889	Quantum Racing	Ray Roberts	NSW	Cookson 50	1.342
M10	Skandia	Grant Wharington	VIC	Maxi 30m	1.758
AUS 10001	Wild Oats XI	Robert Oatley	NSW	Maxi 30m	1.903
IRC Division 1
SailNo	Name	Owner	State	Design	TCC
SM5200	Cougar II	Alan Whiteley	VIC	TP 52	1.334
SM1000	Georgia	John Williams & Graham Ainley	VIC	Farr 53	1.306
8880	Goldfinger	Peter Blake / Kate Mitchell	VIC	Farr 52	1.292
R50	Living Doll	Michael Hiatt	VIC	Cookson 50	1.301
AUS 70	Ragamuffin	Syd Fischer	NSW	TP 52	1.330
US60065	Rosebud	Roger Sturgeon	USA	Transpac 65	1.509
6952	Wot Yot	Graeme Wood	NSW	TP 52	1.340
1836	Yendys	Geoff Ross	NSW	Reichel Pugh 55	1.377
IRC Division 2
SailNo	Name	Owner	State	Design	TCC
R33	Chutzpah	Bruce Taylor	VIC	IRC 40	1.209
GBR 4519L	Jazz	Chris Bull	UK	J145	1.203
HY 161	Knee Deep	Philip Childs & Frank Van Ruth	WA	Farr 49	1.276
43218	Limit	Alan Brierty	WA	Corby 49	1.271
6522	Mr Kite	Buckland & Hunn	NSW	Mr Kite 40	1.265
GBR 5698R	Noonmark VI	Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy	UK	Swan 56	1.206
545	Pretty Woman	R Hudson/M Lockley/R Murphy	NSW	Farr 45	1.223
B45	Rush	Ian & John Paterson	VIC	Corel 45	1.226
G421	Shogun	R G Hanna	VIC	Rogers 46	1.265
HW42	Wedgetail	Bill Wild	QLD	Welbourn 42	1.202
IRC Division 3
SailNo	Name	Owner	State	Design	TCC
8338	AFR Midnight Rambler	Sue Psaltis & Bob Thomas	NSW	Farr 40 Mod	1.167
7447	Alacrity	Matthew Percy	NSW	Beneteau 44.7	1.098
SM2004	Another Challenge	Chris Lewin	VIC	Sydney 38	1.110
Q999	Another Fiasco	Damian Suckling	QLD	Jutson 43	1.140
7771	Balance	Paul Clitheroe	NSW	Sydney 47	1.174
MH115	Bear Necessity	Andrew & Pauline Dally	NSW	C & C 115	1.060
SM2	Challenge	Lou Abrahams	VIC	Sydney 38	1.110
GBR 6612R	Decolsolmarine Sailplane	Decosol Marine	UK	Beneteau First 47.7	1.117
MH60	Eleni	Tony Levett	NSW	Sydney 38	1.110
7555	Endorfin	Peter Mooney	NSW	Sydney 47	1.172
6155	Getaway Sailing 2	Peter Goldsworthy	NSW	Sydney 38	1.110
6146	Global Yacht Racing - Kioni	Kioni Sailing Pty Ltd	NSW	Beneteau 47.7	1.123
MEX 407	Iataia	Marcos Rodriguez	MEX	Beneteau 40.7	1.067
6068	IMAREX	Marc & Louis Ryckmans	NSW	Sydney 38	1.110
8447	Mr Beaks Ribs	David Beak	NSW	Beneteau First 44.7	1.112
N40	Papillon	Phil Molony	NSW	Archambault 40	1.095
360	Patrice Six	Adrian Dunphy	NSW	X41	1.126
6197	Pisces	David Taylor	TAS	Sydney 36	1.061
8924	Pretty Fly II	Colin Woods	NSW	Beneteau 47.7	1.116
2001	Quetzalcoatl	Bruce/Hampshire/Lee Warner/Sweetapple	NSW	Jones 40	1.167
SM6083	Scarlet Runner	Robert Date	VIC	Sydney 38	1.110
8300	Secret Mens Business #1	SMB Syndicate	NSW	Murray 42	1.160
6838	Splash Gordon	Stephen Ellis	NSW	Farr 40 - MOD	1.160
8448	Swan Song	Geoffrey Hill	NSW	Swan 48	1.142
6073	Swish	Steve Proud	NSW	Sydney 38	1.110
6051	The Bigger Picture - KM & T	Mike Roberts & Anthony Hooper	NSW	Sydney 38	1.110
7027	The Goat	Foye/Gordon	NSW	Sydney 38	1.110
YC5974	True North	Andrew Saies	SA	Beneteau First 40.7	1.065
6559	Wot's Next	Graeme Wood	NSW	Sydney 47	1.174
3838	Zen	Gordon Ketelbey	NSW	Sydney 38	1.110
IRC Division 4
SailNo	Name	Owner	State	Design	TCC
4057	Aurora	Jim Holley	NSW	Farr 40 - One Off	1.049
371	Berrimilla	Alex Whitworth	NSW	Brolga 33	0.891
RF116	Huckleberry	Steve Humphries	WA	Sparkman & Stephens 34	0.920
MH106	Impeccable	John Walker	NSW	Peterson 33	0.958
M762	Inner Circle	Ken Robinson & Darren Cooney	NSW	Farr 40 IOR	1.049
5350	Matangi	David Stephenson	TAS	Frers 39	1.014
2090	Morna	Greg Zyner	NSW	Cavalier 35	0.953
GB347	Palandri Wines Minds Eye	Brad Skeggs	WA	Beneteau 34.7	1.009
9412	Sextant	Denis Doyle/ Lynne Smith	NSW	X-412	1.057
2170	Spirit of Koomooloo	Mike Freebairn	QLD	S & S 48	1.024
508	Stormy Petrel	Kevin O'Shea	NSW	S & S 36	0.953
8289	Zephyr	James Connell	NSW	Farr 1020	0.959
PHS Division 1
SailNo	Name	Owner	State	Design	TCF
GER4014	DHL - The Daily Telegraph	Kookaburra Challenge	NSW	Volvo 60	1.4041
NOR 2	George Gregan Foundation	David Witt	NSW	Volvo 60	1.4843
262	Helsal IV	Dr T Fisher	TAS	Dynamique 62	1.0900
GBR  3055	Hugo Boss II	Alex Thomson Racing	UK	Volvo 60	1.4951
55555	Krakatoa II	Rod Skellet	NSW	Pogo 40	1.1736
5474	Pirelli	Les Goodridge	NSW	Farr 65	1.3493
7878	Sailors With disABILITIES	David Pescud	NSW	Lyons 54	1.2743
10000	Toyota Aurion V6	Andrew Short	NSW	Jutson 79	1.5346
PHS Division 2
SailNo	Name	Owner	State	Design	TCF
633	Dehler Magic	Greg Tobin/ Charlie Preen	QLD	Dehler 39	1.0287
4384	First Light	Nicolas Ewald & Susan Rice	NSW	Adams 12	1.0229
7551	Flying Fish - Arctos	Flying Fish Properties	NSW	Radford 16.4	1.0152
6388	Namadgi	Canberra Ocean Racing Club	ACT	Bavaria 44	0.9518
2557	Phillips Foote Witchdoctor	The Rum Consortium	NSW	Davidson 42	0.9786
3724	Salona	Phillip King	NSW	Salona 37	1.0128
4924	She	Peter Rodgers	NSW	Olsen 40 Mod	0.9450
3846	Sheridan Road Rail (Tartan)	Ian Sanford	NSW	Northshore 38	0.9929
Sydney 38 One Design
SailNo	Name	Owner	State
SM2004	Another Challenge	Chris Lewin	VIC
SM2	Challenge	Lou Abrahams	VIC
MH60	Eleni	Tony Levett	NSW
6155	Getaway Sailing 2	Peter Goldsworthy	NSW
6068	IMAREX	Marc & Louis Ryckmans	NSW
SM6083	Scarlet Runner	Robert Date	VIC
6073	Swish	Steve Proud	NSW
6051	The Bigger Picture - KM & T	Mike Roberts & Anthony Hooper	NSW
7027	The Goat	Foye/Gordon	NSW
3838	Zen	Gordon Ketelbey	NSW
Cruising Division
SailNo	Name	Owner	State	Design
GBR 24R	Capriccio of Rhu	Michele Colenso	UK	Oyster 55