RPNYC and the Sydney to Hobart race

The chances are that if you ask anyone in the world to name a famous yacht race, it will be the Sydney to Hobart. Alongside the Fastnet race, it carries a certain cachet that all racing people think at some time in their life, they’ll like to have a crack at it. It’s enough to be able to say “I have been there” to make others sit up and take notice.

The list of our sailors who have participated as crew is far too large to contemplate, however, we can consider some of the boats, which itself is a considerable list of 41 participating entries (coming up for 42) in total.

The first Club boat – indeed the first New Zealand boat – to enter the race is the Ilex in 1946, the second year the race was held. Her story has been written up before in many places (this is the best), so there is little point in pursuing it again. However, it is a big tick for the sailors of this harbour!

1960s

It was 20 years before another RPNYC boat entered the race. The boat was Bob Holford’s Carina, an Alden design which he built himself. Bob was a member of both the EBYMBC and Port Nic, but having started out as a boy with Evans Bay and having a stronger loyalty there, registered her as an Evans Bay YBMC entrant in 1965. She is the first vessel from this port to have actually finished the race. Veteran member of both RPNYC and Evans Bay YMBC Graham McKenzie, known to one and all as “Greyballs”, was on the crew. He can still be seen out racing on John Floyd’s After Midnight most weekends in the RPNYC fleet. Holford competed the race again the following year, in company with G. Moore’s Altair.

In 1968 Evans Bay YMBC was celebrating it’s 50^th jubilee. As part of the celebrations, the Club arranged a Hobart to Wellington race, to follow the Sydney Hobart. Two local boats departed Wellington to compete in these events, Brian “Baldy” Millar’s Arapawa, another Alden design built by Morgan at Picton,  and Kem Cox’ Matuku, designed by John Spencer. Only Arapawa made it.

Matuku was en-route to Sydney when she hit a whale (it was supposed), which tore the skeg right off, the boat sinking within minutes. The crew had a good quality inflatable life raft, and all managed to scramble in. However, they had few provisions with them, and being out of the main shipping lines, they spent 5 days at sea. They were only picked up after being spotted by the tanker British Queen which was slightly out of the usual course. Upon their return, one of the crew complained that the worst thing about the ordeal was his testicles being constantly wet and freezing cold. One of the RPNYC Club ladies knitted him a little sock to both commemorate and guard against future torment.

The experience didn’t deter Cox from ocean racing however, he was to successfully complete the Sydney to Hobart race four times with Savant during the 1970s.

The Arapawa got across and completed the Sydney to Hobart. For the return race to Wellington, she lined up on the Derwent for the 1200-mile race back to Wellington with Auckland boat Renegade, skippered by John Lidgard and Christchurch boat Prospector, skippered by Ron Lloyd.

It was tough going, with Renegade breaking first her rudder and spinnaker pole in a crash gybe, and later broke her boom in a separate incident.

Arapawa won the race, doing the trip in nine days (two of them becalmed near Cape Farewell). It was obviously a strain however, as she snapped her mast when a backstay failed during the Wellington Anniversary regatta several weeks later. Arapawa was up and going in short order, competing the Auckland Suva race in February.

The results of the 1960s competitors were very creditable when considering the voyage which must first be undertaken before even starting the race. This is borne out by the fact they all sailed to, or better than, their respective handicaps.

1970s

The way for RPNYC sailors was led by Kem Cox with his new boat Savant, and (who else but?) Geoff Stagg, with his home-built Spencer Whispers II, completed in 1970. They were both entered in the 1971 race. Stagg came in with a very impressive 10^th place on line in a fleet of 78. The RPNYC centennial book says Whispers II came seventh – is that a typo, or is there a little scandal to the story? Cox finished 34^th on line.

The late 1960s saw a big leap in interest in ocean racing, and the Admiral’s Cup inspired southern organisations to create an equivalent for this hemisphere, instituting the Southern Cross Cup in 1967. The Cup was competed for in a series of offshore races, culminating in the Sydney to Hobart race, and competed for by teams of three boats.

1971 was the famous year when the New Zealand Southern Cross Cup team consisting of Runaway (John Lidgard), Pathfinder (Brin Wilson) and Waianiwa (Chris Bouzaid) – all Auckland boats – placed first, second and third in the Sydney to Hobart race, respectively. This resounding result, along with One Ton Cup successes the year previous at Heligoland, and the fact that a young local guy like Geoff Stagg barely into his 20s, could build a boat in his back yard and make the top ten in one of the world’s toughest races, really galvanised local yachtsmen.

So it is that through the 1970s and early 1980s we see entrants from Wellington locking into the biennial Southern Cross Cup cycle, supported by a fund set up by the RPNYC.

In 1973 Del Hogg, a man utterly new to sailing, but thinking he could make a go at the Sydney to Hobart threw his hat into the ring with Renegade. His result of 72 out of 92 entries would have been a wake up, but he must have thought he had the measure of it, and it was the start of a very impressive offshore sailing career, extending into the 1980s. More of his remarkable exploits may be read here. Also sailing that year was Barnacle Bill, which finished with a very creditable 17^th place on line.

In 1975 the RPNYC sent three boats to the trials held in Auckland for the Southern Cross Cup: Thunder Cloud (Del Hogg and Arthur Stewart), Koamaru (Brian Millar), and Whispers of Wellington (Geoff Stagg). None made the cut, but Thunder Cloud and Whispers of Wellington entered the Sydney Hobart race anyway, finishing mid-fleet.

Following some strong lobbying, RPNYC negotiated that New Zealand could send two teams to the South Pacific Cup: a northern and a southern region. In 1977 RPNYC set up trials, and selected Barnacle Bill, which performed so well back in ’73, Stewart and Hogg’s Thunder Cloud, and Stagg’s Whispers of Wellington. The team had pretty average results, coming sixth in the series, though Whispers of Wellington (29^th) and Barnacle Bill (25^th) placed well in a fleet of 131 in the Sydney Hobart race. The boats which were selected for 1979 and 1981 fared disappointingly. By 1981 interest in the event had waned in New Zealand, and there was only one team sent to Sydney, the trials being run by RPNYC.

It was the 1983 team with the seemingly flawless Bruce Farr-designed Pacific Sundance owned by Hogg and Morris which really lit things up in Ocean racing.

Pacific Sundance finished as first yacht overall in the South Pacific Cup event in convincing fashion. Skippered by Geoff Stagg and Peter Walker, the boat posted a first, third and fourth among 27 yachts in the three inshore races. They also won the 180-miler, and the Sydney-Hobart race finale – in fact she nearly won the Sydney-Hobart overall, but ran out of wind just 40 miles from the finish, achieving 16^th on line 4^th on handicap in a fleet of 170. Pacific Sundance had a fantastic international career: the story is already well told here and here.

There appear to be no further entries to the race from Wellington until 1990. That’s not to say there was a decline in international racing, but that’s a story for another time…

1990s

This decade saw another surge in participation in the event which carried over to the early 2000s. First out of the blocks was G. Wood’s Woolly Jumper in 1990 (placing 19^th in a fleet of 106), and local boat builder Mike Muir who entered his designed and built Rattle ’n Hum. This was a joint exercise between Muir and N. Kishimoto, the Japanese Owner / purchaser. They finished 14^th on line and were placed 4^th IMS Div II. The following year Chris Harris entered Vendetta in 1991 and posted a first for her division.

1994 would mark the 50^th anniversary of the Sydney to Hobart race, and an additional event was planned to encourage more entries from New Zealand. The one-off event was known as the Tasman Triangle, which was a series of four ocean races: Wellington to Sydney, Sydney to Hobart, Hobart to Wellington, and Wellington to Sydney; plus one shorter race held at each of the three ports.  The event was organised by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, with support from the Royal Tasmanian Yacht Club, and the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club.

Eight boats departed Wellington. From RPNYC were entered Cosmic Cruz chartered for the event by RPNYC Commodore Con Anastasiou, Koamaru (R. Graham), Tower (B. Cardiff), and Whispers II (L. England). The Lyttelton yacht Holidaymakers was skippered by Club member P. Brandley. Also in the fleet were Archon (R. Turner) from Lyttelton, Kerina (G. Skeggs) from Nelson, and Brightstone (T. Borrell) from Auckland, boasting an all female crew.

Tower got line honours for the Wellington/Hobart leg, and posted a very good result in the Sydney Hobart, coming 39^th on line in a record fleet of 308 boats. She also took line honours for the Hobart/Wellington leg, in a slightly larger fleet than had departed Wellington which included the Chris Packer-owned Starlight Express (of which more anon). After the final harbour races were held here in Wellington, Whispers II won the Tasman Triangle series overall.

In 1997 Andrew Taylor, veteran of the Whispers II campaign of 1994 skippered his Davidson 55 Andiamo as part of the New Zealand Southern Cross Team, coming in at 27^th on line (and 3^rd in IMS Div 1) in a fleet of 121 in the Sydney to Hobart – a very good result and only just outside his target of finishing in the top 20.

This anticipated another huge push by members of the RPNYC in the Sydney to Hobart, beginning with another Davidson 55, Starlight Express.

Stewart Thwaites’ campaigns

In 2000 Stewart Thwaites decided to enter his newly acquired Davidson 55 Starlight Express in the Sydney to Hobart. Fleet numbers had declined in this era, in part no doubt a fallout from the disastrous 1998 event. It was probably a combination of owners being a bit shy of it, as well as safety regulations becoming increasingly stringent, and therefore expensive.

Nevertheless, it was a strong fleet of 82 which competed, and Starlight Express came in 23^rd on line. The following years she came in 14^th and 13^th respectively. The 2002 campaign was particularly successful: first on IRC overall as well as for Div A, 2^nd on IMS Div A, and fourth on IMS.  Thwaites had truly got the bug by now, and the only thing to do now was to get line honours.

Thwaites commissioned the Zana, a 30-metre fixed keeler which was built under great secrecy by Hakes Marine in Wellington. The largest maxi yacht in the world at the time, she was launched with much fanfare in October 2003. After some running in, she was taken to Sydney, where she finished 2^nd on line in the Sydney Hobart – an amazing result! It could have gone either way, with the result being decided in a tacking duel in light airs on the Derwent. The Wellington team now felt they knew what it would take to win this thing. Tweaked up and renamed Konica Minolta, 2004 was going to be the year!

Except it wasn’t. The crew gave it absolutely everything. In the lead and driving hard through a demonic southerly with very high winds, big seas, hail inches thick on the deck with the temperature barely above zero, the crew were swapping out at twenty minute intervals. Four hours ahead of the nearest rival Skandia, off the north-east coast of Tasmania, the boat suffered a catastrophic failure when she flew off the back of a wave, and were forced to withdraw, as did Skandia when she suffered similar damage. This left the field open to the more prudently sailed Nicorette. The crew’s story may be read about on page 25 here.

The team came back in 2005, and achieved another impressive result finishing 4^th on line. Konica Minolta was campaigned internationally, taking line honours and smashing records wherever she went.

2005 was Thwaites’ final campaign in the Sydney Hobart race, and no local boats have entered until this year. That hasn’t been for the want of trying in some quarters. In 2017 Tony and Vesna Wells tried to enter their yacht Blink but were denied in the last moment due to safety rules. You can read the anguished tale here.

Mike and Tracey Carter two-handed in 2023

Active RPNYC members Mike and Tracey Carter have entered their yacht Allegresse in the 2023 two-handed fleet. The couple have cruised the boat extensively in the Pacific, and Mike sailed a compelling race in the 2023 solo Trans-Tasman. The boat was named RPNYC boat of the year, and we look forward to following their progress.

Although as stated, this article has limited itself to RPNYC-registered yachts in the Sydney to Hobart race, we must also tip our hat to Club Board member Tim Hampton who will be crewing on board the Australian-registered Midnight Rambler this year.

Best of luck to all concerned!

Official results including handicap results of all Sydney to Hobart races can be found here

Register of RPNYC competitors

Below is a table showing our Club’s entries through the history of the Sydney to Hobart. The table is line results only. As the official online record doesn’t always list the port of origin, there may well be some omissions, so if you spot one, please let us know!

Records

1st entrant

Ilex (1946)

Most Wellington entrants (by year)

1979 (5 entrants)

Most entries (by boat)

Savant (4)

Most entries (by skipper)

Stewart Thwaites (6)

Youngest competitor

Roydon Thomas age 13 in 1946

Top Three results (line)

Zana (2^nd in 2003)

Top three results (handicap)

1991 Vendetta. Chris Reid: 1st IMS Div. D

1994 Whispers II Lindsay England: 3^rd IMS 20 year

1997 Andiamo. Andrew Taylor: 3^rd IMS Div. A

2002 Starlight Express. Stewart Thwaites: 1^st IRC fleet

2002 Starlight Express. Stewart Thwaites: 1^st IRC Div A

2002 Starlight Express. Stewart Thwaites: 2^nd IMS Div A

2005 Konica Minolta. Stewart Thwaites: 3^rd IRC

***Acknowledgement is due to CLub member Geoff Meyer for details on the campaigns of the the 1990s and editorial comment