Looking forward to the Sydney Hobart Race, Vendee Globe update, Mini Globe Race
by David Schmidt 24 Dec 2024 11:00 EST
December 24, 2024
2023 race winner Alive during the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race © ROLEX | Kurt Arrigo
One of my sincere regrets from my (long-ago) college days was that I arrived in Sydney, Australia, for a semester-long study abroad program a few weeks after the start of the annual Sydney Hobart Race (December 26). I had a fantastic time in the Lucky Country, and I can still remember walking across the Sydney Harbor Bridge with my buddy at the end of our time in Oz. While he was impressed with Sydney's beautiful skyline, I found myself imaging what the harbor must have looked like on Boxing Day, loaded with raceboats, spectators and media. This fine view will be on full display for anyone fortunate enough to be in Sydney this week, as over 100 boats plan to line up to start this classic 628-nautical mile race.
While weather forecasts can be (and often are) all over the place in the lead-up to an ocean race, early predictions are calling for a potentially fast race this year. This could be great news for the 100-footers and other line-honors contenders who are itching to rewrite the race's history books.
North American interests are being represented this year by skipper Ronald Epstein and his crew aboard Bacchanal, a recently acquired JPK 11.80. To date, the Bacchanal, crew has had good luck with their new whip, placing sixth in November's Bird Island race, and third in December's Cabbage Tree Island race.
"I'm a lifelong day sailor who started to race a couple of years back," said Epstein in an official race communication. "I think our campaign is the triumph of joy and optimism over good sense that a San Francisco Bay sailor comes out here to sail in the Sydney Hobart."
The race is set to begin on Thursday at 1300, Sydney time, which is 2100 hours, Wednesday, on the U.S. East Coast. Sail-World wishes all participating crews safe and fast passage to Hobart, and we will certainly be hitting refresh on the website tracker once the starting guns sound.
Meanwhile, in the singlehanded non-stop around-the-world Vendée Globe race, less than 10 nautical miles separate the current leader, Yoann Richomme, who is sailing aboard Paprec Arkea, from Charlie Dalin, who is sailing aboard Macif Sante Prevoyance, despite the fact that the fleet has now been racing since November 10.
Both skippers have rounded Cape Horn, while Sébastien Simon, who is sailing aboard Groupe Dubreuil with a damaged foil, is some 490 nautical miles astern of the leaders.
Impressively, the leaders broke Armel Le Cleac'h's previous record time to Cape Horn by over three days, 13 hours!
To help provide some context and scale as to exactly how fast Richomme and Dalin are sailing—and how hard they are pushing their steeds— skipper Denis Van Weynbergh, who is sailing aboard D'ieteren Group, and who bringing up the rear, is trailing the leaders by almost 7,000 nautical mile and is still in the Atlantic Ocean (N.B., so are skippers Manuel Cousin, sailing aboard Coup de Pouce, and Fabrice Amedeo, who is sailing aboard Nexans-Wewise; respectively, the two are 6,576 and 6,594 nautical miles astern of Paprec Arkea, as of this writing).
Talk about fleet spread!
Also as of this writing, seven additional boats are in the vicinity of Point Nemo—the farthest point on earth from civilization—so the holidays should be filled with exciting stories and media from skippers rounding the Horn.
Finally, as if there wasn't enough great offshore action to follow (or escape to) over the holidays, December 28 marks the start of the Mini Globe Race. This race takes crews on an eastabout circumnavigation through the Panama Canal, with planned stops along the way, aboard 19-foot boats, many of which will likely be home-built affairs hewn out of plywood.
The first leg of this race stretches from Lagos, Portugal, to Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, and is expected to take roughly 28 days.
Unlike the Vendée Globe, which could see the leaders cross the finishing line about 80 days after they began racing, the skippers racing in the Mini Globe Race will likely be looking at around 400 days at sea.
While Mini Globe Race skippers can look forward to stops, 400 days at sea is a lot of time to spend alone aboard a 19-footer.
Sail-World wishes all safe and speedy passage to all of these competing skippers and teams, and we extend our best wishes for happy and healthy holiday celebrations to our readers.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor