{"id":2645,"date":"2022-01-15T14:33:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T13:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev01.pacific-rope.com\/?p=2645"},"modified":"2024-06-12T09:22:39","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T07:22:39","slug":"the-return-of-the-iconic-sydney-hobart-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/news\/the-return-of-the-iconic-sydney-hobart-race\/","title":{"rendered":"The Return of the Iconic Sydney Hobart Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rolly Tasker Sails Australia\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0Co-Director Sam Newton was part of the winning crew of the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, taking line honours on board the maxi \u2018Black Jack\u2019. This race, Sam recalls, had been long awaited after last year\u2019s race had to be cancelled due to Covid. Sailed for the 76th\u00a0time, the race from Sydney to Hobart in Tasmania covers a distance of 628 miles. The fleet encountered rough upwind conditions in up to 30 knots of wind and 24 boats from the 88 starters dropped out. For the maxis, however, it was tough but fast. The winning yacht, \u2018Black Jack\u2019, took line honours after two days, 12 hours, 37 minutes and 17 seconds of hard racing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter half a dozen downwind slides for the larger boats over recent years, 2021 also saw 95 percent upwind sailing for the maxis and over 2 1\/2 days on the water, which is the longest race in a while and what the race is typically famous for\u201d, Sam commented. \u201cFor some years I\u2019ve been sailing aboard the famous \u2018Wild Oats XI\u2019 maxi however this year, due the owner\u2019s decision not to compete, I was asked to join the new team aboard \u2018Black Jack\u2019, another leading maxi, originally launched as \u2018Alfa Romeo\u2019 and managed to race alongside a very talented group of sailors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam\u2019s role on the boat was to trim the huge\u00a0360m2 mainsail and keep the mast pointing to the sky. \u201cThese larger boats have very complicated mast setups with triple running backstay deflectors and multiple forestay points which can be used in many different combinations. The art is to balance all the loads correctly to work within the design limits of the boat and the mast to give the other trimmers onboard the optimal stay loads and mast bend to make the boat go as fast as possible, while also staying safe\u201d, he explained.<\/p>\n

LINE HONOURS<\/h2>\n

The race however is not over until the finish. \u2018Black Jack\u2019 was fighting hard against two other very fast maxi yachts, \u2018Law Connect\u2019 and \u2018Scallywagg\u2019. \u201cThe weather for first 24hrs clearly favoured the wider and more powerful maxis\u201d, explained Sam. \u201cAfter that we were to see a few breeze transitions and some lighter wind. So, for \u2018Black Jack\u2019\u00a0which is optimised\u00a0for the lighter air, it was all about staying tight with the other two 100 footers for the first day so we were ready to take advantage of the favourable weather at the back half of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

At no point are you confident you will win until you actually cross that finish line as even in the last few races, there have been lead changes by the maxi\u2019s close to the finish in the Derwent river. But as \u2018Black Jack\u2019 led into the Derwent on night 3 with a solid lead, it was certainly theirs to lose from there.<\/p>\n

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RACING BACKGROUND<\/h2>\n

Sam Newton is a well-known and highly experienced yachtsman and offshore racing sailor. He sailed his first Sydney to Hobart in 2004 on the Farr 52 \u2018Ichi Ban\u2019 and then went onto sail a number of other boats including the overall win on the\u00a0TP52 \u2018Quest\u2019 in 2008 and two line Honours wins in the 100ft Maxi \u2018Wild Oats XI\u2019.<\/p>\n

BENEFITS FOR ROLLY TASKER SAILS<\/h2>\n

Even more so than in other technical areas, the first-hand experience gained in competitive offshore racing benefits the sail development also for offshore cruisers in many different respects.<\/p>\n

After an exciting year sailing with the Australian Sail GP team on the foiling F50 Catamarans, Sam had a busy month in Sydney, racing the final Sail GP event for 2021 in Sydney Harbour in late December, then going straight into the Hobart race. After that, he enjoyed two days of rest before starting into an Etchells regatta where Sam and the team won the event.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe broad range of boats on which I sail, from One Design keel boats and skiffs, to catamarans and maxi yachts, along with many cruising miles in my spare time gives me an excellent understanding of sail design and materials which I can then apply to the specific and varying requirements of our clients\u201d, he says with regards to Rolly Tasker Sails.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it be a cruiser seeking best quality and value or an offshore racer demanding peak performance, with the great range of sail design, cut and materials at Rolly Tasker Sails, we can always develop an optimum solution matched to their needs and budget\u201d.<\/p>\n

To go directly to Rolly Tasker Sails Australia, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Photocredit: Rolex\/Andrea Francolini<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rolly Tasker Sails Australia\u2019s\u00a0Co-Director Sam Newton was part of the winning crew of the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, taking line honours on board the maxi \u2018Black Jack\u2019. This race, Sam recalls, had been long awaited after last year\u2019s race had to be cancelled due to Covid. Sailed for the 76th\u00a0time, the race from Sydney […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[80],"class_list":["post-2645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-racing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rollytasker.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}