57th Sydney to Hobart Entries Friday

by Peter Campbell on 29 Oct 2001 Applications to enter the 57th Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race close with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia this
coming Friday, 2 November, with no late nominations being accepted under the Club’s strict guidelines.

So far 40 boats have been nominated, but the Club is expecting a late rush as the notice of race was late in being
distributed, with race officials still confident of a fleet of between 80 and 90 boats heading south on Boxing Day,
26 December 2001.

This will include the eight Volvo Ocean 60s competing as part of their round the world race, racing the 630
nautical miles south then, after a brief 'pit stop' at Hobart, continuing across the Tasman Sea to Auckland.

Among the entries received so far are those of the Polish maxi yacht Lodka Bols and the veteran two-times
Sydney to Hobart winning yacht Love and War, with 77-year-old retired property developer and international
yachtsman Peter Kurts returning once more to the fray.

Lodka Bols, the first Polish maxi to enter the Sydney to Hobart, is the former Whitbread Round the World Race
yacht Matela which sailed in the 1989-90 and 1993-94 Whitbreads.

Sailed by a very experienced international crew, the boat has in recent years competed regularly on the maxi
circuit in European, Mediterranean and Carribean waters. She also won the Expo98 Round the World race.

Love and War, a classic Sparkman & Stephens design, was built for Peter Kurts in 1973 and represented
Australia in the 1975 Admiral's Cup in England, also winning the 1974 and 1978 Sydney to Hobart races on IOR
corrected time.

Kurts brought the wooden sloop back to ocean racing trim for the 50th Sydney to Hobart in which she won the 20
Year Veterans Division. She competed again in 1996.

Kurts actively sails Love and War every week, often sailing single-handed from Sydney to Pittwater and other
coastal ports.

Another big boat entry is Icon, a 19.8 metre fast cruiser/racer from Seattle, USA, which competed in the recent
Hamilton Island Race Week.Entries are expected this week from Ludde Ingvall’s 80-footer, Nicorette, the
Swedish maxi that took line honours in last year’s race, along with George Snow’s famous Sydney maxi
Brindabella, currently undergoing extensions to the hull that will make her almost an 80-footer.

Sydney yachtsman Sean Langman will enter his downwind flyer, the Open 60 Grundig, in both the Sydney to
Hobart and then the Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Race, starting a week later, planning to head straight back north
after finishing in Hobart.The overall IMS winners of the last three Sydney to Hobarts, Ed Psaltis and Bob Thomas’
AFR Midnight Rambler (1998), Terry Mullens’ Sting, the ex-Yendys (1999) and Kevan Pearce’s SAP Ausmaid
(2000), also entered last week.Also entered are the three Melbourne yachts, Cadibarra, Another Challenge and
Chutzpah, expected to make up a formidable Victorian for the Southern Cross Cup international competition,
which starts on December 12 and finished with the Sydney to Hobart.Cadibarra, a new 42-designed by owner
Don Jones, won the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s Winter Series, Another Challenge is Lou Abrahams’
Australian champion Sydney 38 One Design, while Chutzpah is Bruce Taylor’s well-performed
Murry/Burns/Dovell 36-footer.

Further information: Peter Campbell – 0419 385 028 or email – peter_campbell@bigpond.com