The skipper of the Sydney to Hobart’s reigning overall winner is warning the fleet, which includes several Hunter representatives, to brace for retirements and injuries on the first night of racing.

Friday’s final weather briefing on 26 December confirmed the 129 boats – comprising Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club’s Frantic, KD1, Mako, She’s The Culprit and Verite; Lake Macquarie Yacht Club’s Millennium Falcon and Santana; Royal Motor Yacht Club Toronto’s Inner Circle and local entry Titoki – will face a strong southerly going down the NSW Coast that is set to persist overnight on Boxing Day.

Crews can expect a cloudy and possibly rainy start in Sydney as well as a cold first night, with upwind conditions also increasing the chance of damage to boats.

Although, they’re unlikely to be as treacherous as last year, when two sailors were killed in storms.

But, the fleet remains on guard ahead of the race’s 80th running.

“I think there will be retirements, it’s tough on boats in the early part of this race,” said Celestial V70 skipper Sam Haynes, who is also Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA).

“The crash bang, the waves, the gear itself is going to be under stress.

“So, it is a hard race in that sense.

“Also, it’s hard on crews: seasickness and potentially some injuries. They can put boats out. I think there will be some retirements in these conditions.”

The crew aboard Master Lock Comanche, a leading contender for line honours, has been encouraged to look after themselves.

“If you’re not on watch and you’ve got an opportunity to get a break, over two days (on the water) is a long time,” Comanche co-skipper James Mayo said.

“It’s very important that you get rest because the race starts again once you get towards the Derwent.”

Conditions are expected to become lighter on Sunday as the fleet’s 100ft supermaxis approach the finish line at Constitution Dock.

Comanche, LawConnect and SHK Scallywag 100 are rated the leading contenders for line honours.

LawConnect is heavier than Comanche, enjoys rough conditions and boasts an impressive crew, all of which should play into her hand.

However, owner Christian Beck again downplayed his boat’s chances of a third consecutive line honours triumph.

“It’s a bit like (F1 driver) Max Verstappen likes it when it’s raining, we like it when it’s very rough,” he said.

“This forecast is a little bit rough but it’s probably not rough enough to make it that likely that we’ll win, unfortunately.”

The CYCA has been heartened by the fleet’s eagerness to take part in a tribute to victims of the Bondi terror attack since first announcing plans on Christmas Eve.

At the final briefing, extra rose petals were made available for crews to take aboard.

“I asked 15 boats, CYCA member boats, to make a tribute, to scatter rose petals as they go past Bondi Beach at sea,” Haynes said.

“But, after those 15 boats, a lot of other boats have followed.

“In fact, I believe the whole fleet.”

The boats will hit the water from Sydney Heads from 1pm.

• With AAP

HUNTER REPRESENTATIVES

Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club

Frantic

• Owner/skipper: Michael Martin
• Navigator: Robert Thew
• Crew: David Blakemore (2), Stephen Chapman (18), Malcolm Dean (8), John Eve (2), Antony Gango (2), Zac Heggie (1), Alexander Hunter, Anthony Jurd (5), Elizabeth Knorre (1), Greg Mackintosh (1), Jane Roberts (11), Ashley Rose (4), Trevor Smyth (2)

Synopsis: Frantic’s last Hobart was 2023 where she finished 36th overall. Owned by former Wallaby player Michael Martin, Frantic is one of the older TP52s and she loves a long ocean race, starting with a win in the 2013 Gosford-Lord Howe Island race. In 2018, Martin claimed Line Honours and smashed the record in the revived Sydney Noumea Race, in four days two hours 23 minutes and 34 seconds (taking 1:19:12 off Brindabella’s 1991 record) and won the RPAYC’s inaugural Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race in 2023. In 2016, Martin relinquished the helm so the first Korean team to sail the race could compete, renaming her Sonic and they enjoyed it so much, the yacht raced for Korea again in 2017. Geoff Hill, of Antipodes fame, was the yacht’s (known as Strewth) first owner.

KD1

• Owner/skipper: Joe de Kock
• Navigator: Janease Graham
• Crew: Will Armstrong (4), Finlay Cooper, Kyle Hancock (3), Karma Randall (1), Tom Stearnes (2), Wendy Tuck (17)

Synopsis: Joe de Kock gave KD1 a major refit when he bought the former Goodform 10 years ago, after she had competed on the Farr 40 circuit and done some IRC races. KD1 won Division 2 in the 2024 Australian Yachting Championships and is now ready for her first Rolex Sydney Hobart. “We’ve made the change to offshore racing for the 2025/26 season,” de Kock says. In the lead-up, KD1 contested the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast race but a torn main ended her race. The Flinders Islet Race proved better, with an eighth overall, followed by fourth in the Tollgate Islands Race. De Kock, who established Midcoast Boatyard and Marine facility in 2003 and has raced everything from skiffs to yachts, last raced to Hobart in 2022, with KD4, a Dehler 44 he sailed double handed with Richard Hooper, who is aboard again.

Mako

• Owner: Simon Macks
• Skipper: Tim Dodds
• Navigator: Adrian Kiely
• Crew: Andrew Burggraaff (4), Greg Busch (6), Marcus Busch (3), Hugh Dodds (3), Simon Glover (2), Damien Parer, Emily Sellens (1), Samuel Wood (1)
  
  Synopsis: NA

She’s The Culprit

• Owner: Glen Picasso/Glenn Bulmer
• Skipper: Glen Picasso
• Navigator: Trent Butler
• Crew: Glenn Brown (1), Glenn Bulmer (8), Glen Coulam (3), Paul Dover (2), David Edwards (3), Matthew Hill (1), Sarah Howard, Dominic Tanner (2), Patrick Tanner (4), Mark Virtue (2)

Synopsis: The latest She’s the Culprit was recently purchased by Glen ‘Cyril’ Picasso and Glenn ‘Tac’ Bulmer, who are setting out with their regular friends to do it all over again. This DK42 was last known as Minerva but was originally Rob Reynolds’ Pla Loma IV. It will be a new experience for Cyril and Tac, who have great expectations, given the success of her last owner, Timothy Cox and his son Edward and nephew William, who last raced her to Hobart in 2021. Picasso and Bulmer are well known as members of a syndicate of a former She’s The Culprit, an Inglis/Jones design that contested 10 Hobarts under PHS and scored many podium finishes, including winning the York Corinthian Trophy in 2014.

Verite

• Owner: Paul Beath
• Skipper: Paul Beath/Massimiliano Fonzo

Synopsis: Paul Beath has contested two Sydney to Hobarts double-handed on Verite, the first with Richard Hooper co-skippering and last year with Teresa Michell, when they were among the many retirees. Verite is a French word meaning ‘the quality or state of being true or real’ and is from the same design board as the 2021 Two-Handed winner, Disko Trooper-Contender Sail Cloth. Verite will join other four other J/99s, including Jupiter, Rum Rebellion and The Gaffer, in the race, so expect some spirited racing between them.

Lake Macquarie Yacht Club

Millennium Falcon

• Owner/skipper: Robert Griffiths
• Navigator: Richard Agnew
• Crew: David Cranney, Kenneth Macdonald (2), Alex Samarian, Michael Westaway (2)

Synopsis: Millennium Falcon, a lovely Sparkman and Stephens design, was built in 1975, but unusually, was not launched until 1992, following a meticulous shipwright fit out. She spent many years sailing on Port Phillip Bay in Victoria. Following a change of owner in 2020, to Robert Griffits, she received extensive maintenance for an updated program prior to sailing north to a new home on Lake Macquarie, with stays on Sydney Harbour. Millennium Falcon started the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart, but retired on the first night with crew illness, so is back to try her luck in the 80th running of the race.

Santana

• Owner/skipper: Michael Graham
• Navigator: Michael McDonald
• Crew: Tod Cherry, Brett Date, Scott Ferguson, David Hill (7), Kathryn Johnson, Dwayne Minch, Jesse Morrow (1), Chris Scanlon (1), Jeffrey Shute (7), Peter Watkins (1)

Synopsis: Santana is back after last contesting the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart where she represented Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club. “We have repaired the spinnakers and restocked the fridge. The lamb shanks are on order and the red wine laid in the cellar,” and ready to rumble owner, Michael Graham, says. Previously, Mike Kelaher skippered Santana in the 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart. She has also done the race as Santana Baby Lock in 1991 and as Leda in 1995. Built in Norway, Graham had this beautiful Swan 43 refurbished before contesting the 2018 Sydney Noumea Race. Santana is one of three Swan designs in the 80th race this year and if the weather gets rough, they will handle it.

Royal Motor Yacht Club Toronto

Inner Circle

• Owner/skipper: Darren Cooney
• Navigator: David Castleton
• Crew: Aaron Beasley (3), Mitch Croak (3), Christopher Greenhalgh, David Hosken, Ken Saladine (11), Courtney Street, Liam Tanner

Synopsis: Built to the IOR rule that ruled supreme until the early 1990s, Inner Circle last headed south in 2014 and placed 23rd overall. She has a long ocean racing history and was known as Short Circuit, Ferris Audio and Hills Antennas before becoming Inner Circle in time for the 50th anniversary race in 1994 that produced a record 371 boats. In 2008, after the yacht retired to Eden with damage, Darren Cooney remembered his late father saying what a great boat she had been – and that inspired him to return the boat to racing condition, after she had spent five years on her Lake Macquarie mooring. The yacht’s best Hobart result was 11th in 1988 when she was Ferris Audio. Cooney contested the 2025 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast race and finished 34th overall.

Other

Titoki 

• Owner: Tim Binns
• Skipper: Frances Beaumont and Tim Binns

Synopsis: Tim Binns entered Titoki in the 80th Sydney Hobart as part of an ongoing program of double-handed offshore racing and cruising. His co-skipper and partner, Frances Beaumont, has skippered Titoki in ‘She Sails’ events, held at various venues across NSW. Titoki was built in Auckland, relocating to Australia in 1985 and raced out of MHYC in the 1990s. She moved to Lake Macquarie and was purchased by Binns in 2018, undergoing an extensive refit. During Titoki’s life, she has been modified by the addition of a sugar scoop to her transom, a bowsprit and an extended keel and rudder and won her division in the 2025 Australia Day Regatta. Both Binns and Beaumont are retired from service in the Navy.

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