Alive claims overall Sydney Hobart title

The Reichel/Pugh 66 Alive, skippered by Duncan Hine and owned by Philip Turner, has been declared the overall winner of the 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, securing the Tasmanian boat its second victory in five years.

The win is also Tasmania’s fifth in the 628 nautical mile Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s race after Hine skippered Alive to her first victory in 2018.

Alive’s win adds extra polish to the pedigree of the boat that Turner bought as the former Black Jack in 2014, with a view to winning the race.

After it’s victory in 2018, Alive came close again in 2019, but placed fourth. Last year she finished 10th. The team finished the 2023 race on December 28 with an elapsed time of 02:02:19:04.

“It goes to prove finally that it [2018] wasn’t a fluke,” noted Hine. “I’m very lucky, really. Phil has such an amazing boat to start with. We’ve got a really good crew. And the weather was good for us.”

Alive’s win is the highlight of an extraordinary year for the boat. This year, Alive also claimed overall honors at Hamilton Island Race Week, the Brisbane to Hamilton Island Race, and Bruny Island Race, as well as line honors in the King of the Derwent Regatta.

“It’s been a remarkable year for the boat,” said Hine adding that while Turner did not sail on Alive this year unlike in 2018, he has celebrated with him over “quick chat or two” by phone.

The result also signs off on a terrific performance for Reichel/Pugh in the race, as the top three overall came from their design board, with the RP72 URM Group finishing third over the line for second overall and RP69, Moneypenny, taking third place overall.

“Reichel/Pugh designs are proving to be a pretty lucky for many of these races,” Hine said.

Asked what was the key point of the race that shored up Alive’s victory, Hine cited the last stretch up the Derwent River to the finish and their nail-biting tussle with URM Group.

“It was a cliff hanger right up to the bloody finish wasn’t it?” noted Hine. “The Derwent River always pulls something out of the bag.”

Hine and his crew had to play a waiting game until this morning when the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia declared Alive the winner of the prestigious Tattersall Cup, which uses the IRC handicap system.

Hine said he felt more at ease during the “waiting game” for that confirmation than in 2018. “I thought it was going to be hard to lose from where we were. If someone had knocked us off, they would have deserved it.”

Hine lauded his 14 crew that included navigator Adrienne Cahalan for whom it was a 31st Sydney Hobart (a record for women) and New Zealanders Gavin Brady and Stu Bannatyne and the rest of the crew.

“We worked so hard all the way through that race. Everyone put in 100 per cent,” Hine said. “You don’t always walk away feeling like you’ve done the best you could have personally, but I don’t think anyone would have hopped off the boat feeling they could have put more in.”

The Alive crew:
Skipper: Duncan Hine, Sailing Master: Gavin Brady, Navigator: Adrienne Cahalan, Darren Jones, Shane Gaddes, Stu Bannatyne, Sam Tiedemann, Dean Van Teylingen, Silas Nolan, Brad Farrand, Sean O’Rourke, Logan Andersen, Christopher Cowan

Details: https://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/

The 628 nm course for the 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has several key features following the exit from Sydney Harbor on December 26. Most notable is the crossing of the easternmost edge of the exposed Bass Strait, a notorious expanse of water that can serve up punishing and violent waves, and then periods when the sea is calm as the wind fades. The final stretch up the Derwent River into Hobart can be either kind or cruel when deciding the results of the race.

Source: RSHYR