Wild Rose vann totalen i Sydney Hobart
Det har argumenterats en del här för att man inte bör utse totalsegrare i Sydney Hobart. Och så klart är det respektive klassegrare som skall firas, men när ett sånt här gäng tar hem Tattersall’s Cup och en Rolexklocka så inser man varför det är viktigt. Foto:Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi.
En äldre båt, familjebsättning, flera generationer och massor av tjejer ombord. Signalen är tydlig. Man behöver inte ha en 100-fotare för att titulera sig som vinnare av Sydney Hobart. Jag är ganska säker på att detta kommer att inspirera andra.
Kolla också in kinesgippen.. Finns i sin helhet här.
A WILD EDITION
Roger Hickman’s Farr 43 Wild Rose has been confirmed as the overall corrected time winner of the 2014 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
Completing the legendary 628 nautical mile Rolex Sydney Hobart race course in 3 days, 7 hours, 4 minutes and 43 seconds, Wild Rose arrived in Hobart on Monday evening, finishing with a corrected time that proved insurmountable for the yachts drifting through an abating breeze to Hobart.
Hickman acquired Wild Rose in 1991 from Bob Oatley, the owner of the all-conquering 100-foot Maxi Wild Oats XI. Two years later Hickman – along with co-owners Bruce Foye and Lance Peckman – won the race on the boat then called Wild Oats.
How fitting that on the year Oatley, who sailed the great race three times with Hickman, witnessed his stellar Wild Oats XI crew make history with an eighth line honours success that Wild Rose claimed the race’s most significant prize. “Fantastic, wonderful, surreal, it hasn’t sunk in,” said Hickman, a Hobart native. “I am so elated. Every sportsman old and young loves the feeling of competing and winning.”
Wild Rose, a 29-year old boat, is comprised of a 14-strong crew, including six female sailors as well as family members including Hickman’s sister Lisa, and brother Andrew, both for their first time. Passionate about the competition, by his own admission Hickman is a driven, fierce competitor. “The Rolex Sydney Hobart is something you’ve got to do, whether you say it’s the Everest of yachting, whether it’s the camaraderie, the challenge, or the solitude of being on the ocean. It’s wonderful so many people enjoy the race from the Maxis to the timber boats.”
Claiming victory in the 70th edition of the race clearly carries an extra satisfaction for Hickman, a keen student of the race’s history and 38-time competitor. “I am pleased to have done more than half of the 70 races; this year is a big milestone, it shows the creativity of the people seventy years ago, the enormous efforts that have gone in.”
What drives so many competitors to the Rolex Sydney Hobart is that the handicap system provides any boat theoretical chance of victory. Hickman and his skilled crew sailed the boat hard, to its full potential, and pushed relentlessly to maximise her speed. Nights at sea were short, resources deployed skilfully. “One of the things that can cause you problems in the Rolex Sydney Hobart is fatigue and sleep depravation. As skipper, owner and the one with the most anxiety about winning, losing, and safety, I didn’t get much sleep, but I’ve got a great crew and slept when I needed.”
The fatigue is already forgotten as Hickman and his crew toast a historic Rolex Sydney Hobart success having received the Tattersall’s Cup and Rolex timepiece for etching their unique place in sailing history.
Across the finish line shortly after 15:00 AEDT today (30 December), after just over four days of racing, Southern Myth became the final yacht to complete the 2014 race. Out of 113 total starters, 103 boats finished and 14 retired.
Dec 30, 2014 @ 16:26
Grattis.
Var det båten eller bara kameran som gjorde en 360-roll?
Skepparen får önska sig en sån där selfie-pinne som blur brukar ha monterat i aktern.
Dec 30, 2014 @ 16:36
Nu vann de ju klassen också. ;-)
Om jag minns det rätt från Rolex Middle Sea Race så får varje klassvinnare en Rolexklocka.
Dec 30, 2014 @ 16:54
Diskussionen om en totalvinder er interessant.
I England og Australien har jeg indtryk af at de ser det som en mulighed for at alle en gang imellem kan få en fordel – og at det er helt OK !
Man skal jo også stadig vinde over sine rating-ligemænd.
Jeg tror at både Danmark (og måske også Sverige ?) skulle se det fra samme positive vinkel i stedet for at argumentere med at det “ikke er retfærdigt”, “ikke er sportsligt korrekt”, eller “de fik en fordel som de ikke skulle have haft” – “de havde aldrig vundet hvis ikke vinden havde tiltaget/løjet” o.s.v.
Det er handicap-sejlads, og sådan er handicapsejlads. Og det er helt OK for de fleste af os som sikkert ikke ville have en chance i de fleste entype-felter alligevel. Lad os fejre lidt mere i stedet for mindre.
Godt Nytår.
Dec 30, 2014 @ 18:49
Ja – varför inte vara generös.
Danmark borde fixa sin helt hopplösa Löbsindelning så det blir större klasser istället. DH-regeln fungerar mycket bättre idag och det är inget problem att olika båtar möts.
Värst av alla är Stelton-Cup med 125 deltagare och +25 Löb eller Palby Fyn Cup för den delen.
125 deltagare och 26 segrare är ju ett skämt. :-D