The Jackal wins line honours in 2025 Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race
by Jane Austin / ORCV Media 30 Dec 17:38 PST
29 December 2025
The Jackal crew arriving at the docks in Hobart © Josh Stuchbery
Matt Setton’s Ker 11.3, The Jackal has claimed line honours in the 2025 Melbourne to Hobart ‘Westcoaster’ Yacht Race, in a time of 3 days, 5 hours, 22 minutes and 23 seconds.
In a closely fought race, The Jackal led all the way from Melbourne to Hobart, clinching the line honours victory despite the determined efforts of Matt Fahey’s Sydney 38, Faster Forward and a last-ditch effort from Justin Brenan’s Lidgard 36, Alien, in the final few miles of the race.
Setton, who embraced his partner Katie and his very excited children, Tara and Zeke, moments after docking at the Elizabth Street Pier, reflected upon his victory as a first-time skipper and what gave them the edge.
“I’m pretty happy to be here, very relieved, it’s been a big year getting the boat ready, I’m glad we made it.
“I think our downwind speed on the second day gave us a little bit of a break from Faster Forward.
“We knew that they would be pretty good upwind and so for the first 12 hours or so, it wasn’t quite downwind, and there were only a few miles between us, but we thought, once the breeze got behind us, we’d be able to skip away a little bit, and we were able to do that which was good.
“Our trip down the West Coast on the second day was a lot of fun.
“We did push the limit a little bit and were lucky to escape with no damage to our new A2, and the same can be said coming up Storm Bay, we pushed the limit on that one, it got a little bit wet, but we recovered it with no damage thankfully so, the downwind stuff is always a highlight.
“We were also fortunate to have Stuart Addison on navigation and he thought we might be able to skirt around a bit of a hole in the wind which we did reasonably well, which probably helped us, but then we all depressed in the lighter breezes as so often happens.
“I think to do well in any yacht race, you need a little bit of luck, and some good planning and preparation and I think we got the balance right.
“It was a great race, very tactical, probably equally as tactical in some respects as a Sydney to Hobart.
“This year’s conditions were probably atypical, pretty light from all accounts, and no 40 knot westerlies rounding Maatsuyker [Island], we rounded it in daylight which was lovely.
“For me, the thing that attracted me to doing the Westcoaster as a first-time skipper and being Melbourne based, was that it was so much easier to achieve, the logistics of getting a boat ready in Melbourne for a Melbourne-based race was fantastic.
“And ORCV has been really supportive of me as a first-time skipper, with all my silly questions, which made it really enjoyable, it a stress having to work through all the paperwork and the compliance, which is necessary and important, but that was a great help, so thanks to the ORCV team.
Onboard The Jackal with Setton were Jeff Whiteside, Nigel Fellowes-Freeman, Peter Grant, Stuart Addison, Robert Buchanan, Thor Cembala and Ronald Piang Ng.
“It was a great team effort, I try and get a good all-round team and people that can do multiple things, not just one role, particularly drivers.
“I think it’s important to have people who are really good and comfortable driving in the day, at night, in heavy and in light conditions, so you aren’t reliant on one or two people.
“Out of a crew of eight, I think we had four or five really good drivers.
“I’m just really pleased with the efforts of the crew.
“We also had two first timers who are relatively new to sailing, who have only been doing it for a couple of years, Peter [Grant] and Ronald [Piang Ng], and everybody else has been sailing for a long, long time.
“Particular thanks also to Jeff Whiteside who put a lot of time and effort into getting the boat ready with me, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do the race without him,’ said Setton.
And the final highlight of Setton’s first line honours victory?
“We saw lots of pods of whales, I’ve never seen so many pods of whales in a single race, and they were all very close to us,” said Setton.
Setton also won the Port Phillip Sea Pilot’s Trophy for first boat out of Port Phillip Heads at the start of the race.
The Westcoaster is one of the world’s great ocean races, covering 435 nautical miles from the start in Port Phillip to the finish line in the River Derwent in Hobart.
The race starts with a 125 nautical mile passage across Bass Strait before the fleet sails 200 nautical miles south down the West Coast of Tasmania, past Maatsuyker Island, east to South East Cape then turning northeast through the challenging waters of Storm Bay and then the fickle conditions of the River Derwent.
The monohull race record of 1 day 17 hours 28 minutes 59 seconds was set by Shortwave in 2008.
Follow the 2025 Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race on Blue Water Tracks.