Rolex Sydney Hobart prizes presented

by Di Pearson on 1 Jan 2010
With both the Governor and the Premier of Tasmania in attendance, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race came to a close today when the prizes were presented to all the winners of the 628 nautical mile race at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, in Sandy Point, Hobart.

Joining His Excellency, the Honourable Peter Underwood AO, the Governor of Tasmania and Mrs Underwood and The Honourable David Bartlett, Premier of Tasmania and Mrs Bartlett were Mr Matteo Mazzanti, Rolex Geneva (SA) and the Commodores of the race’s organiser, Matt Allen for the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and Clive Simpson for the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania which finishes the race.

Prior to the prize giving ceremony, Commodore Allen called for one minute’s silence in remembrance of Andrew Short and Sally Gordon who died as a result of an accident in the Flinders Islet Race in October.

He then read ‘The Sailor’s Farewell.

'It was inspiring having Matt Short (Andrew’s brother) and his family in the race this year,' remarked the Commodore who said the CYCA was still counting the hits on the Rolex race site; 'we can’t count that high,' he said.

Thanking Rolex and the RYCT, Commodore Allen said: 'To Rolex, we certainly could not ask for a better partner in this race.'

Both commodores thanked officials and volunteers, along with the race director Tim Cox, the international jury, Martin James for his design of the race tracker (the first in the world), John Winning for the use of his services and motor vessel the ‘JBW’ which acts as the Radio Relay Vessel for the race and David Kellett who manned the radio aboard.

There was no sign of the emotion of yesterday after the protest hearing when Andrew Saies was handed the highly prized Tattersall’s Cup today for Two True’s win. Instead it was a broad grin when he accepted the famous trophy.

'Thanks to Rolex for their sponsorship,' said Saies who also thanked the two yacht clubs involved in the race. 'I had a great boat and a great crew,' the South Australian winner said.

Australian sailor Chris Hosking accepted the British entry RÁN’s prize, as owner, Niklas Zennstrom had to return to England. 'The owner is very happy with the race and his result. He’s only sorry the boat was delayed in arriving in Australia and he wasn’t able to race in the Rolex Trophy Rating Series,' Hosking, his boat captain said.

On behalf of Neville Crichton, Jonno Morris accepted the JH Illingworth trophy and replica, awarded to Alfa Romeo for winning line honours. Alfa Romeo won so much silverware that Morris needed assistance to carry it out of the RYCT!
Morris, the managing director of McConaghy Boats, was thrilled to note that the top three boats on line were all built by McConaghy.

The Jane Tate Memorial Trophy, a perpetual trophy awarded to the first woman skipper on corrected time, was presented by her daughter, Mrs Kath Worbey in memory of her mother who sailed in the second race and was the first woman to complete the event.

Mrs Worbey, who presented the trophy to Rebecca Walford, the skipper of Discoverer of Hornet, brought the house down when she told how she sailed to Sydney from Tasmania aboard one of her father’s yachts as a nine year old, 'and I never wanted to have that experience again; I haven’t been on a yacht for around 60 years.'

Also honoured at the ceremony was Bruce Gould, a Sydneysider who is originally from Hobart. He sailed his 40th race aboard Geoff Hill’s Strewth (NSW) and finished 48th overall. During his 40 races, he won in 1987 aboard Pacha, scored the line and double wins in 1987 on Sovereign and was a survivor from Winston Churchill in the disastrous 1998 race.

Greg Prescott from Tasmania, Tony Kirby from NSW, Peter Hopkins from Tasmania and Robert Case from Melbourne all achieved their 25th Hobart in this Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Prescott did not make it all the way as Limit suffered rigging damage.

Kirby steered his own Patrice Six to a solid fifth overall and third in Division 3 and Hopkins sailed aboard Valheru.

Case is the most unique. He has not missed a single Hobart race since he was 16 and this year sailed on Ichi Ban, owned by the CYCA commodore. Case has sailed 11 of his races with father Bernie who has sailed 40 Hobart races! Case is also believed to be the youngest (at 41) to achieve his 25 races.

Another unique aspect of the race was that the ORCi rule was introduced for the first time, with one third of the fleet sailing under the rule. Interestingly, the IRC overall winner, Two True, also won under ORCi. The only anomaly was Pinta-M, which moved from 25th in IRC to fifth in ORCi.

A replacement for the IMS rule, ORCi is proving popular due to a number of owners expressing their preference for a measured, transparent rating rule.

For divisional results of the 95 yachts that finished 65th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, go to: http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/standings_ext.asp?key=524

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