The Regatta courses took participants to Manly for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday races. Each day, with a lot of east in the breeze and big tides, decisions taken on which side of the harbour to work shaped the results and helped a lot of others decide what they will do next time.

It is, of course, inevitable that the conduct of offshore racing will adopt new communications technology. But by dispensing with the radio relay vessel and the traditional position reporting system the Sydney-Hobart will lose an important component of the sense of community and comradeship that has helped make the event unique.

What I really like is the inclusion of an IOR Division that is open to any yacht that has a launch date after 1975 and prior to 1991 and has competed in a Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. This brings new purpose to a whole style of racer that has been left floundering in the wake of rule changes over the last three decades.

"My father in law, Hugh Garnham (now in his late 80s) built a 26ft Huon pine yacht, called GLENSHIEL in the late 1950s, to do the Sydney-Hobart. He was in his early twenties when he built it at his parents’ house, which happened to be on the foreshore of the Derwent."

With constant evolving sailing technology and boat designs, it is becoming increasingly more important to remind ourselves of the heritage of yacht racing. A nod to the enduring legacy of classic yachts and their pivotal role in shaping the RSHYR has given rise to a dedicated two-day regatta

Our EDM goes out at 7am every Friday to 4000 readers. By 8am we had over a dozen emails and comments, rightly pulling us up on our shoddy research!

Entries closed this week for the 78th Rolex Sydney to Hobart. As we did last year, let’s have a quick scan of the timber vessels that are making the trip south. As far as I can tell there are only four genuinely timber boats… unless I’ve missed something.

The Notice of Race has now been published for this years Sydney Hobart Classic Yacht Regatta.

I’ve worked with the best sailors in the world. Pretty much all of them have an absolute feeling and instinct about the wind and the nature of the wind they’re sailing in. But if you scratch the surface, they know bugger-all. And if you could put a bit of science into it, they could learn a lot more. 

What followed was some exciting downwind sailing. With wind speeds of up to 45 knots from behind, simple manoeuvres became all 18 hands on deck and up to 45 minutes of planning and execution just to safely gybe the 45-ton bucking bronco.

I think to myself, isn't it great that we have people in the world, passionate master craftsmen like my good mate Eddy, who put all their love into a project such as Boongown, until it just seeps from every surface and inspires the admiration of everyone who sees it or is lucky enough to climb aboard.

How fortunate can you be? This year’s fleet of 26 yachts has, over this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday, enjoyed three days of the very best of Sydney Harbour racing.

On January 16th, 1980 the barometer dropped 4 points and things got hairy.
 Their single sideband radio would receive Radio Moscow in English but all they could receive from Australia was snatches of cricket commentary no weather forecasts.

Ed is tough but considered, practical but romantic, exacting but inclusive. If more people were like him, sailing would be a better sport.

While these timber yachts sail majestically on, most of the hot new fibreglass boats in the class of ‘72 have disappeared off the radar.

Wally Ward was perhaps the last truly ‘amateur’ designer to have one of his boats win the Sydney-Hobart race and also one of the most successful designers to use the metacentric shelf principle.

In many ways it was like a traditional four-day Sydney Hobart Yacht Race squeezed into just three hours.

Rob, a talented and successful Mullet boat sailor had a chat with us about how and why he ended up as the new custodian and what his (exciting) plans are for the future.

What is almost as impressive as the aesthetic, is the historical accuracy of the paintings…”The start was off Rose Bay between Clark and Shark Islands. Rose Bay beach is in the background.”

The Sydney to Hobart over 628nm has been sailed annually since 1945. The race was Covid cancelled in 2020 and there is a real possibility of no race in 2021. While waiting for a decision, SWS speculates about State based “on water matters” and possible alternatives.