Please select your home edition
Edition
PredictWind - Offshore App 728x90 TOP

Rolex Sydney Hobart Race - Victoire overall winner + Video

by Alex D'Agosta on 30 Dec 2013
VICTOIRE at Race Start - Rolex Sydney to Hobart 2013 Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi http://www.carloborlenghi.net
Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2013 day five and the remaining boats racing had a slight respite from prevailing weather conditions as the southwesterly moderated to 20 - 25 knots over night into this morning (December 30). Unfortunately for Roger Hickman’s Wild Rose, any chance of upsetting Victoire as overall handicap leader went by the boards with the diminishing breeze - at 4am AEDT when the boat needed to finish, it still had 35 miles to go.

By mid-morning the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia could confirm that Darryl Hodgkinson’s Cookson 50, Victoire was the official Overall Winner of the 69th edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. At a dockside presentation, Hodgkinson the owner/skipper, was presented with the Tattersall’s Cup and a Rolex timepiece.

Hodgkinson, a plastic surgeon from Sydney, bought the boat as a birthday present to himself and told his wife his goal was a two-year plan to win the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race -- he fast tracked the timeline, succeeding on his first try. This was Hodgkinson’s third go at the race, having competed in 2010 and 2011 on his Beneteau 45.

Elated with the win, Hodgkinson said, 'This is the culmination of a great campaign, it’s a personal victory and one I share with all sailors who did the race. I feel somewhat humbled to have won.'

The exuberant skipper was quick to praise his mostly amateur crew and put the win down to meticulous planning and preparation. He praised tactician and strategist Sean Kirkjian – a 17-time race veteran – and said, 'He’s a wizard, who is just playing ‘ocean chess’ all the time'. As well he touted Danny McConville, who has prepared two or three Hobart winners before, and said 'This boat was in marvelous condition before we left the dock. We had a fair bit of preparation, I’d say.'

Victoire’s navigator, Phil Eadie confirmed the meticulous preparation and ‘leaving no stone unturned’ approach and said, 'A lot of work has gone into this with Darryl. He had meetings every morning for months, making sure everything works.

Eadie has sailed in 34 editions of the race, and used that experience to draw from, 'I plotted the tracks of a lot of the ones we’ve won before or other people have won before, just to sort of get a feel of it – that we didn’t step too far outside of the paddock.


'There was a lot of preplanning, mostly in the last 24 hours before the start – we planned the whole race what we would do in theory, based on the weather, and had that laid out – and balanced that against reality. We have a really good weather guy, Chris Buckley from Perth, and he gave us a lot of good input.'

Hodgkinson recalled the key elements of Victoire’s win, 'It was a fairly tough race. When we got that heavy northeasterly, there were moments when we had to believe in ourselves, and our yacht. We knew this boat had won before, and so we let it run. We knew we were only going to win if we pressed really hard, and we couldn’t let our foot off the pedal. And there were some moments when the foot was right down and it was like ‘oh, this is a ride’, and we were thrilled. Of course it was part terror! At one point, we had a Chinese gybe – which was pretty scary – but amazingly we got the boat up and going, and it worked out.

'But we changed our sail plan after that, and were quite surprised with the change from the A4 (headsail) to A6, how we could still maintain the speed. So I think we learned on the stick, as it were, on that one.'

A steady stream of yachts crossed the line over the past 24 hours, and as of 6pm local time AEDT, there were 17 yachts still racing, 67 finishers, and 10 retired. The back marker was the 38-footer, Déjà Vu, which was expected at the finish early on the morning of January 1st.






Henri-Lloyd Dynamic RangeArmstrong 728x90 - HA Foil Range - BOTTOMBarton Marine Pipe Glands

Related Articles

Vaikobi's top-rated polarized shades
VIZE+ Polarized Ocean Eyewear - lenses made for the ocean environment With lenses made for the ocean environment, Vaikobi's VIZE+ Polarized Ocean Eyewear is too good to look away. But don't just take their word for it... all their polarized sunglasses have been tested and reviewed by ocean frothers all over the world!
Posted today at 5:30 pm
Thomas Ruyant aims for a three-peat in IMOCA Class
There will be 18 two-handed IMOCAs on the Transat Café L'OR startline The Transat Café L'OR from Le Havre to Martinique, which forms the finale of the 2025 IMOCA season, is now just 12 days away and it's a classic course that has attracted a stellar field.
Posted today at 3:10 pm
A Q&A with Chris Alexander on the 2025 VX One NAs
Chris Alexander on the 2025 VX One North American Championship This year's VX One North American Championship will be hosted by the Gulfport Yacht Club, in Gulfport, Mississippi from October 16-18, and will feature eleven scheduled races on the waters of the Mississippi Sound, near the GYC.
Posted today at 3:00 pm
All change in the Endeavour Trophy
A dramatic twist in the results after a request for redress was reopened by the Protest Committee The 64th Endeavour Trophy has seen a dramatic twist in the results after a request for redress was reopened by the Protest Committee when they realised that a significant error may have been made at the initial hearing.
Posted today at 2:37 pm
Manly 16s Club Championship Heat 3
Crazy doesn't begin to explain the finish Crazy doesn't begin to explain the finish to third heat of Manly's club championship on Saturday.
Posted today at 1:45 pm
Macif renews its commitment to ocean racing
A new IMOCA program 2027-2030 with Sam Goodchild as skipper Macif announces the continuation of its commitment to ocean racing with an ambitious project that will begin in 2027 and end in 2030. The IMOCA MACIF will be on the starting line of the Vendée Globe 2028-2029.
Posted today at 11:01 am
Belgium Ocean Racing breaks Class40 24hr record
452.22 nautical miles at an average speed of 18.84 knots At an average speed of 18.84 knots, a superb performance by the Jonas Gerckens Belgian team competing in the 2nd edition of the GLOBE40 with Benoit Hantzperg and Renaud Dehareng on board for this leg 2, covering 452.22 nautical miles in 24 hours.
Posted today at 5:37 am
America's Cupdate: October 10, 2025
Sailing Illustrated's Tom Ehman and Sail-World's Richard Gladwell dissect the America's Cup. Sailing Illustrated's Tom Ehman and Sail-World's NZ Editor, Richard Gladwell discussed the latest developments in the America's Cup, last Friday/Saturday (depending on your time zone) on sailing's only regular live video podcast.
Posted today at 5:23 am
Sydney - Auckland Ocean Race: Lucky wins
The USA registered pocket maxi Lucky, formerly Rambler 88, has taken line honours in the Sydney Auck The USA registered pocket maxi Lucky, formerly Rambler 88, has taken line honours in the Sydney Auckland Ocean Race - crossing the Tasman in in just 68hrs. Four yachts are still racing.
Posted today at 2:12 am
Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race Day 4
Lucky claims line honours but race still on Bryon Ehrhart's Lucky has claimed line honours and broken the race record in the Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race (S2A) earlier this morning, crossing the finish line at 9.20.27.26am AEDT finishing the race in 2d 20h 27 minutes 7 seconds.
Posted today at 1:28 am