Please select your home edition
Edition
B&G Zeus SR AUS

J/133 dominates Sydney-Hobart Race Class!

by J/Boats 11 Jan 2020 18:19 AEDT
Hartbreaker arrived into Hobart yesterday afternoon with the second surge of yachts in the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart © Rolex / Kurt Arrig

Congratulations to Jason Close's Sandringham YC team on the J/133 PATRIOT! They had a remarkable performance in the 2019 ROLEX Sydney-Hobart Race.. winning IRC 5 Class (IRC Overall 9th) and winning ORC 4 Class (ORC Overall 10th).

Jason's team included Lex O'Connor (navigator), Greg Coutts, Jordan Sunkel-Lozel, Stu Shafer, Cathy Furey, Graeme Smith, Pete Chalkley, Brett Averey, Stu Moseley, Andy Mcgrath, and Marissa Chalkley. The crew are members of Sandringham Yacht Club, with four of them having lots of International 14-foot skiff experience.

Clearly, their skiff experiences helped on this fast-reaching race... the J/133 PATRIOT was the only production boat in the top 14 overall; all the rest were flat-out, carbon-fiber racers that were professionally-sailed; TP52s went 1-2-3 (8 total in top 14), and the others were all 62 to 69 feet extreme carbon machines. Not bad company for a 15-year-old boat!

Here is the commentary from owner Jason Close on their race-winning performance:

"Our Rolex Sydney-Hobart campaign started with the Sydney-Gold Coast race in July. We had a good result, placing in both our divisions and we had a good look at our opposition.

Our race plan was to sail at, or as close to, 100% polars for the entire race and leave nothing in the tank.

With our fantastic pre-race routing and forecasting prepared by weather and climate expert Jess Sweeney, we set off confident of a good result.

After a great start, we exited Sydney Heads with two Farr 40s and were at the front of our division.

The first night consisted of some solid downwind sailing, which the J/133 really excelled in, and it enabled us to put a big break on our division and work through boats 2 or 3 divisions higher!

We found ourselves pretty well match-racing with an extremely well-campaigned Cookson 12 named Sail Exchange. We both pushed each other up the fleet and well into the overall IRC contention.

We had a number of challenging navigational decisions around Gabo Heads, with the strong current, in particular. But, we stuck with our pre-race strategy and made some significant inroads on the fleet.

The next night, we saw 20-25 knots of breeze downwind, with a very confused sea state, but the boat cut through it like butter with the assistance of some high-quality helming by the team... the skiff sailors loved it, diving from trough to trough as long as they could!

The next phase of the race was challenging, with many wind transitions to deal with. We managed to keep the boat moving and got through the wind transitions well. Unfortunately, from our perspective, the TP52 carbon racers at the front of the fleet (all the guys that won their class and overall) did not encounter the light weather that we did, so they all put a fair amount of time on us.

Coming into Storm Bay with the Cookson still hot on our tail, we had another light period before catching a decent sea breeze. Thankfully, the moderate sea breeze carried us through to the finish and allowed us to keep our nose in front of our opposition, at least in our class. However, that sequence of light patches, getting becalmed, and waiting for the seabreeze to build cost us a shot at the overall title.

To win both ORCI and IRC in our divisions was what we set out to do, and we were extremely happy we achieved this. Nevertheless, to finish 9th IRC Overall and 10th overall in ORCI in a big boat race against fully professional outfits in our production J/133 was nothing short of remarkable. It was a credit to our great team and our awesome boat! This was one for the little guys!!"

More Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race sailing information here.

Related Articles

J/112E debuts in Vancouver
A noteworthy letter from Adam Korbine in the Pacific Northwest region Every now and then, we receive enthusiastic and passionate letters from J/Owners all over the world. One noteworthy letter is from Adam Korbine in the Pacific Northwest region in Vancouver, British Columbia- a new J/112E owner. Posted on 19 May 2024
J/133 Patriot wins division in wild, rough RSHYR
Rolex Sydney Hobart lives up to its legendary status Living up to its legendary status as one of the world's toughest ocean races, the 2023 edition of the 628.0nm Rolex Sydney Hobart Race had its fair share of throwing "everything including the kitchen sink" at the competitors from start to finish. Posted on 8 Jan 2024
J/99 and J/122E Silver in the Port Hacking Race
The latest race in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Ocean Pointscore Series The latest race in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Ocean Pointscore Series was the Sydney to Port Hacking Race (approx. 45.0nm round trip) last Saturday. Posted on 25 Nov 2022
Victory for J/99 Rum Rebellion in Bird Island Race
A fleet of 49 yachts started the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia 83nm Bird Island race At 10.00am on Saturday 12th November 2022 a fleet of 49 yachts started the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia 83nm Bird Island race where competitors sail from Sydney Harbour to Bird Island, before returning to Sydney Harbour to finish. Posted on 22 Nov 2022
J/122 Joss continues winning ways down under
IRC1 win in the ORWA 2020/21 Offshore Racing Series It is exciting to see that certain parts of Australia have managed their pandemic behavior enough so that traditional offshore yachting events can take place. Posted on 3 Oct 2020
J/133 scores hat trick in Sydney Harbour
A remarkable three race wins by J/133 Euphoria Results from stunning Sydney Harbour are coming in as the Australian racing season concludes, including a remarkable "Hat Trick" of race wins in three races by Tony Coleman's unstoppable J/133 Euphoria. Posted on 31 Aug 2020
Annual Surf to City Yacht Race from Southport
There are two fleets for this race, an inshore and an offshore There are two fleets for this race, an inshore fleet going inside Stradbroke Island, and an offshore fleet sailing a 100.0nm course up the seaward side of Stradbroke Island, Moreton Island, around Cape Moreton and back into Moreton Bay. Posted on 21 Feb 2020
Successful J/112E debut in Sydney Offshore Series
The stunning new yacht ZEST finished an impressive second overall Starting in September 2018 and finishing in mid-April 2019, the competitive fleet raced in a wide variety of wind and sea state conditions. Posted on 12 Apr 2019
J/133 Jacana wins off Cape Town
Overall winner of the Class 1 Division in the 2019 Fling Regatta In the southern hemisphere, most sailors are familiar with the extensive one-design and offshore racing taking place in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay) and the Antipodes (Australia and New Zealand). Posted on 8 Feb 2019
J/99 update from Paul Heys of J/UK
J/99 #1 is here in Hamble "J/99 #1 is here in Hamble. The boat has the standard single rudder and fixed bowsprit. We took the "all lead" IRC keel option as we like the effect of this keel design on our J/112E GP "Davanti Tyres". Posted on 12 Jan 2019
Switch One DesignNorth Sails Loft 57 PodcastRolly Tasker Sails 2023 FOOTER