Tassie has four entrants in Rolex Sydney Hobart

by Peter Campbell on 26 Dec 2005 Tasmania now has four yachts representing that State in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race following the chartering of the MBD Open 66 that until recently raced as AAPT. Often referred to as a 'skiff on steroids', the boat will race south as Coogans Stores with Phil Turner as skipper under the burgee of the Derwent Sailing Squadron.

The crew is a mixture of wellknown Sydney and Hobart sailors, among the Hobartians being Jeff Cordell and Ian Ross. The 66-foot downwind flyer finished second across the line to Nicorette last year when skippered by Sean Langman, who this year has chartered Nicorette and is racing the 90-footer south as AAPT.

Other Tasmanian boats in the fleet are the late John Bennetto’s Quest, skippered by Tony Nicholson from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania in Hobart, Ian Hall’s Farr South from Port Esperance Yacht Club at Dover, and two yachts from the Tamar Yacht Club at Launceston, Julian Robinson’s Apollonius and Jailhouse Grill, owned by Jason Van Zetton and Mark Koppelmann.

For the record

Of the 85 yachts lining up for the start at 1.20pm today, Boxing Day, the break-up of States and Nations is:

New South Wales – 44

Victoria - 18

Tasmania – 4

Queensland – 4

South Australia – 3

Australian Capital Territory – 3

Western Australia – 1

New Zealand – 3

Germany – 1

Sweden – 1

United Kingdom - 1

Japan – 1

Ireland – 1