Fuente info Quinag
ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE
26 – 31 DECEMBER 2022
ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE UPDATE
Hobart, 30 December 2022 – Celestial, skippered by Sam Haynes has taken the overall win under IRC Time Correction at the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Crossing the finish line off Hobart just before 11.30 AM on Wednesday, 28 December, the heavily offshore optimised TP52 (52 foot/15.9 metre) yacht posted a corrected time for 628nm course that proved unbeatable.
Having finished second overall in 2021, following a rule infringement penalty that knocked Celestial off top spot, Haynes’ victory is a fairy-tale ending, and a deserved one: “We put everything into it.”
Haynes believes this was one of the strongest fleets ever assembled. In winning the coveted Tattersall Cup, he and his team overcame the challenge of four former Rolex Sydney Hobart winners, as well as high calibre international competition in British yacht Sunshine, winner of Rolex Fastnet Race and runner up in the Rolex Middle Sea Race in 2021, and the American entry, Warrior Won, overall winner of the RORC Caribbean 600 and the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse division at the Newport Bermuda Race in 2022.
Succeeding at the highest level of offshore racing takes more than a good boat and a good crew. This was Haynes’ twelfth attempt. “The Rolex Sydney Hobart is iconic. It is one of the most interesting, strategic, challenging 600 mile races, with a lot of tradition and history. To win a race like this is a massive achievement.”
Less than 30 minutes separated the top four finishers on corrected time. “It was like a match race from the Sydney Heads to the finish line, but particularly in the last half when four of us were within a few miles and could see each other constantly,” said Haynes.
“You start preparing for next year’s race now.” Haynes continued. “You have to build the crew, the skillsets you need. There is a lot of testing of sails, data to be reviewed, and electronics to be checked to be sure about performance. There are safety and medical concerns too. Getting prepared involves a lot of people who are not on the race boat. You have to arrive on the 26 December completely ready. That is the only way to approach a race like this.”
“We know we have to sail right on the edge of the performance capability of boat and crew, and we have to know what that edge is too,” finished Haynes. “In order to win, first you have to finish, but you also have to push the boat really, really hard to win a race like this.”
First held in 1945, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is a legendary contest. Rolex has partnered the event, organized by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in conjunction with the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, since 2002 and the annual race is at the very core of the Swiss Watchmaker’s six-decade-long association with the sport of yachting.
