What it’s really like to win the Rolex Sydney Hobart – plus preview of this year’s race

Since 1964, solely two boats have gained line honours within the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on two consecutive years: the legendary Wild Oats XI and LawConnect. That’s it.

For LawConnect that could be a fairly wonderful consequence as a result of, frankly, we haven’t been the quickest boat. LawConnect is the perpetual underdog and so-called ‘bridesmaid’ with a number of 2nd locations to our credit score.

Our proprietor, Christian Beck, a visionary enterprise chief and eager yachtsman with an important sense of humour, fairly sensationally calls the boat a ‘sh*tbox’ compared to our rivals.

Whereas it’s my very own private feeling that I like the boat and she or he has been so good to us, it’s virtually actually true that she is the heaviest, oldest and has the smallest finances, attributes that don’t usually scream ‘winner’ in massive boat racing.

LawConnect’s 2023 win is taken into account one of the crucial improbable wins of all time, captured intimately within the Rolex video A Race for the Ages amongst different press protection.

However I don’t suppose our 2024 win will get the respect that it ought to. Quite a lot of race followers imagine we solely acquired the win due to breakages on different boats.

It’s true that Comanche reported a damaged mainsail, and even Celestial mentioned {that a} damaged A3 spinnaker might have value them the highest spot. However the actuality is these narratives painting LawConnect as a passive recipient of the 2024 win. That couldn’t be farther from the reality.

The keys to Hobart victory for us have all the time been preparation, communication, and an awfully gifted crew. As a result of Comanche is a lot sooner, they only should sail an ‘okay’ race to beat us. We, however, should sail an ideal race to beat them.

Christian Beck’s LawConnect, a Juan Okay 100ft Customized design on the way in which to successful line honours within the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. Photograph: Andrea Francolini/Rolex

The 2024 Sydney Hobart race win didn’t occur accidentally; it was gained in a brainstorming session earlier than we even left the dock. Wanting on the forecast, which referred to as for very sturdy winds – 30-plus knots downwind with enormous seas – we hatched an audacious sport plan to place the screws on Comanche.

We determined the one factor we might do higher than them on this forecast was gybe in massive breeze. Assured in our crew work, we had been going to be those who might pull off heavy-weather manoeuvres with out a hitch, so we had been going to power them to gybe to cowl us.

The Second of Reality

After the gun sounded, we soundly beat the opposite 100 footers – Comanche, Wild Factor and Maritimo – out of the wild and thrilling chaos that’s Sydney Harbour begin on Boxing Day.

After we turned south on the first clearing mark, sadly, we had an issue with our furler (as we did the yr earlier than). It was a self-imposed error that induced us to fumble and reward Comanche a pleasant little lead. Given their tempo, that lead stretched as we raced beneath spinnaker down the coast, racking up mind-blowing offshore speeds.

As we approached the Bateman’s Bay space close to the southern a part of the continent, the ocean state was enormous. The boat was smashing by the waves, flying at full light-speed. Throughout one of many bumpier sections, as I’d been crunching the info, I noticed a chance to pounce: it was time to set our plan in movement.

MasterLock Comanche and LawConnect lead the fleet initially of the 79th Rolex Sydney Hobart Race on Boxing Day, 2024. Photograph: Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex

“Guys, it’s time to gybe,” I mentioned. “Bear in mind our technique. There’s extra stress alongside the coast.”

Tony Mutter was driving with Chris ‘Nico’ Nicolson on the helm station. This duo occurs to be two of the best offshore sailors on the planet. They checked out me like I used to be loopy and jumped in earlier than I might end my thesis.

“Lewwy, go searching. We’ve already acquired extra wind than we all know what to do with. It’s blowing 35, gusting 45.”

“Yeah, I do know,” I replied. “But when we gybe, we’ll have a beneficial present eddy to assist us that they gained’t get as a result of they’re additional south. We’ll have higher velocity over floor and possibly flatter water with the present going with us.”

No sooner had I completed my sentence than Nico and Tony mentioned in unison, “Able to gybe.” The staff sprang into movement. We pulled off that gybe, easy as might be, and went screaming towards the coast.

I watched rigorously to see if Comanche would reply. I might see we had already gained a bonus as a result of we had higher velocity over floor. These had been anxious minutes as I used to be fairly sure that they didn’t wish to gybe – and in the event that they did one now, they’d should do extra gybes later.

Nico got here all the way down to the nav station, moist as a canine, asking, “Lewwy, the place are we and the place are they?” I advised him we’re aimed simply south of Montague Island.

Nico checked out me incredulously. He checked out his watch, “However it’s nonetheless daylight. It’s solely 19:50. I’ve by no means been right here in daylight.”

“Yeah,” I replied, “No person has. This can be a record-setting tempo.”

As we had been speaking, Comanche modified course and headed again to the coast like us. By the point they had been in a position to answer cowl us, they had been in seemingly a lot larger seas. After clicking off a couple of extra miles, we reached the sting of the eddy, gybed once more, again onto port with the great water aligned completely at our stern. A couple of minutes later they gybed once more proper on our line to cowl, however this time we had been a lot nearer to them. Good points to LawConnect.

Circumstances and velocity had been insane, and icy water flowed like a firehose over the deck.

On the border of New South Wales and Victoria, with darkness already set in, Comanche gybed in entrance of us, onto starboard, to move again for the subsequent wind shift, anticipated to be an easterly. I noticed once they had been on the opposite gybe on AIS, we had been solely about three miles aside and their velocity was manner down.

The beginning of the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race – extreme circumstances would observe. Photograph: Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex

We had been flying like a heat-seeking missile proper at them doing roughly 30 knots. The closing time at these speeds was solely six minutes. As I used to be working all this out on the nav station, I heard on VHF Channel 16:

“LawConnect, that is Comanche. Do you copy? Over.”

I grabbed the VHF. “Comanche, that is LawConnect. We copy.”

“LawConnect, that is Comanche. We’re restricted in our capacity to manoeuvre and we wish to guarantee which you could see us as you’re pointed proper towards us.”

I responded instantly: “Comanche, we’ve got you on AIS and we are going to keep away from. Do you require any help?”

The response got here again immediately, calm {and professional}, regardless of the circumstances and points. “Comanche doesn’t require help, thanks LawConnect. Comanche standing by on 1-6.”

After checking with Tony that he might see them, immediately, we had been on Comanche and gybed simply inside. We flew previous them within the blink of a watch. On the time, we didn’t know precisely what occurred in the dead of night of the night time, however we knew they blew their gybe. We had a method, and we executed it.

Defending the Asset

As soon as Comanche was out of the race, I checked the numbers. We had been about 25 miles forward of the 2017 all-time Hobart race document, and presumably, the quickest ever to succeed in the notorious Bass Strait (not unhealthy for an underdog sh*tbox). I went up on deck to have a chat with Tony and Nico.

“Guys, I do know Comanche is out, however we’re a good distance forward of the Hobart race document. If we proceed to totally ship it, we’ve got an important probability of breaking the document.”

“No manner,” Tony mentioned. “Proper now, it’s time to guard the asset.”

“You certain?” I requested, realizing this was a ‘make or break’ second.

“These are boat-breaking circumstances,” Tony mentioned firmly. “We’re throttling again.”

LawConnect crosses the end line in Hobart to take back-to-back line honours wins in 2023 and 2024. Photograph: Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex

From then on, we had been simply on a jib and fundamental mixture. The breeze got here round to the east as anticipated, a bit on the nostril at occasions, and the ocean state was heinous.

Brad Jackson, a legendary sailor who has been world wide within the Volvo Ocean Race many occasions, saying to me in his understated manner, after a gruelling watch on deck, “Jesus, these are powerful circumstances.” I’ve sailed with Brad quite a bit and admire him vastly, so when he mentioned issues are powerful, that’s saying one thing.

I realised then that the choice Tony and Nico took most likely gained us the race. It was a digital certainty that if we continued full throttle to try to interrupt the document, we’d have damaged our personal boat within the course of as we launched off waves.

As morning broke, so did the information of the fatalities [two competitors tragically died in two separate incidents in the race]. I had the unlucky process of telling the unhappy and troubling information as every set of sailors got here off watch.

A Hero Steps Up

Muted celebrations for the LawConnect staff on the dock in Hobart. Photograph: Verity Lewis

Profitable Hobart is as a lot about dealing with crises as it’s about velocity or techniques. Later, whereas we had been cruising alongside, preserving a watch behind us on the distant Celestial and Wild Factor, we deliberately sailed into lighter breeze alongside the Tasmanian Coast simply to maintain between them and the end – despite the fact that they had been miles behind.

However in these comparatively tame, although nonetheless moist and windy circumstances, I heard the phrase that no sailor desires to listen to: “Lifeless Ship.”

The E-stop button, which is a security gadget that may be pushed to quickly and instantly cease all winches to forestall hurt to people or the boat, had shorted out on account of water ingress. All of the winches stopped working, unintentionally.

When the winches cease on a strong Maxi, you might be absolutely at nature’s mercy and have a probably harmful scenario. You may not trim the sails, and we would have liked to get them again working instantly.

Ty Oxley, our boat captain, stepped as much as save the scenario. Even with water in every single place, he took the covers off {the electrical} wires on deck to determine which swap had shorted. After isolating the issue swap, we needed to bypass it.

He turned to me. “Lewwy, have you learnt which wires we must always join to finish the circuit? Which ought to I lower? There’s black, pink, white, and inexperienced.” The absurdity of Ty standing there soaking moist whereas holding reside electrical wires wasn’t misplaced on me on the time.

It was precisely like these thriller films the place the bomb is about to go off and the hero has to decide on what wires to snip. I feel he mentioned, “I’ll lower the black one,” however I’m truthfully undecided what he mentioned or did as he has a bias for motion.

He clipped it. He mixed the wires. Increase – the winches got here again to life. We might have simply been out of the race proper there had it not been for Ty and his troubleshooting skills and information of the boat.

Via all of it, we preserved the asset, solved issues, and crossed the end line first to win line honours for the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart.

On arrival, we didn’t pop champagne corks or throw Christian within the water like we did the yr earlier than. There was no trophy presentation on the winner’s circle at Structure Dock and we didn’t break our $9,700 document bar tab at Customized’s Home. We had a muted celebration to honour our fallen comrades and recognise that the remainder of the fleet at sea was nonetheless experiencing the kind of thrashing that Hobart races are famend for dispensing.

Again to again line honours medals for LawConnect within the Rolex Sydney Hobart. Photograph: Roopal Lewis

2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart contenders

With the beginning of the 2025 Sydney Hobart just below per week away, as soon as once more, we’re the underdogs for line honours, and this yr the fleet is very sturdy with an astonishing seven boats at, or almost at, the 100-foot most (together with the cruiser/racer Maritimo 100).

In no explicit order, they’re:

• MasterLock Comanche: As all the time, thought-about the favorite with among the best sailors on earth and an unbelievable velocity machine. Over time, I’ve constructed this psychological picture that LawConnect are the hunters and they’re the hunted. We’re going to stalk them, chase them, and by no means quit till we beat them. In case you are on their boat, you might be all the time trying behind, scared that LawConnect goes to determine a technique to soar forward proper when it issues most.

Masterlock Comanche racing within the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race earlier than retiring. Photograph: Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex

• Palm Seaside XI (previously Wild Oats XI): They’ve simply accomplished a serious refit that features a deeper keel and foil bundle that ought to make the boat dramatically sooner in sure circumstances. In my view, they’re both going to be actually, actually quick or it’s going to be powerful going as a result of they merely haven’t had the time to arrange. That mentioned, the Palm Seaside/Wild Oats program is essentially the most profitable in Hobart historical past, and we tremendously respect Mark ‘Ricko’ Richards and the crew.

• SHK Scallywag 100: In the event you needed to predict a winner primarily based on who desires it essentially the most, David ‘Witty’ Witt and the Scallywags need it greater than anybody. They’re hungry, they usually have an important all-around boat and tight-knit, gifted crew. Of their circumstances, they are going to be a handful. I do know this first-hand as I sailed with the Scallywags this summer time the place we gained line honours within the Loro Piana Giraglia race, beating different 100-footers together with the model new Magic Carpet E and Arca (ex-Skandia Wild Factor) in addition to different European Maxi royalty like Capricorno, My Tune and Django.

SHK Scallywag within the 2019 Rolex Fastnet Race. Photograph Kurt Arrigo/Rolex

• Wild Factor 100: The charismatic Grant Wharington has lovingly constructed Wild Factor 100 one piece at a time like considered one of my favorite Johnny Money songs. That is the primary yr with the mast purchased from Wild Oats, so that they lastly have a whole 100-footer bundle, which they used successfully by successful line honours within the 2025 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race. Wild Factor is dramatically lighter than LawConnect, so in gentle circumstances, the Wild Issues have a weapon on their palms.

• Fortunate (previously Rambler 88): Primarily a extra fashionable model of our boat, however a bit shorter and quite a bit lighter with a deeper keel. In the best circumstances, Fortunate may also pull off a Hobart win. Recent off a Transpac race, they’re official contenders.

The canting-keeled 88-footer Fortunate, previously Rambler 88 right here competing within the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race. Photograph: Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex

Unconventional crew coaching with LawConnect’s fleet of 20 electrical go-karts. Photograph: Christopher Lewis

As all the time, on LawConnect, we are going to carry it on Boxing Day, drawing on our key rules.

1) a low-key, ‘no egos’ skilled staff;

2) driving expertise honed by competitors in Christian’s 20 electrical go-karts at our crew home

3) a ‘by no means quit’ angle.

We are going to once more share the Sydney to Hobart motion reside on LawConnect‘s YouTube channel, which embody reside drone footage. This yr we’re additionally bringing our not-so-secret weapon, swimmer Ian Thorpe and his Olympic medals.