The International Jury of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race has declared Min River to be the winner of the International Rating Certificate (IRC) handicap category overall & thus, the winner of the George Adams Tattersall Cup in 2025.
They are the 1st double-handed yacht to win the main handicap category of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race.
It follows a discretionary elapsed time penalty of 1 hour & 5 minutes being imposed by the International Jury on the initial IRC winner, BNC – my::NET / LEON, an international double-handed entry from France.
In assessing the penalty, the Jury has ensured that any possible performance gains are accounted for & a proportionate penalty for a rule breach is also applied.
This assessment was done after deciding to apply a discretionary elapsed time penalty instead of a disqualification or discretionary scoring to the yacht as they were satisfied that BNC – my::NET / LEON did not deliberately break Australian Sailing Racing Rule Of Sailing 55.3 (see below) based on the report made and the evidence presented & re-enforced by the fact that the crew did this in full knowledge that spectators would be watching. They were satisfied of this after having heard & upheld a protest from the Race Committee.
55.3 Sheeting Sails
No sail shall be sheeted over or through any device that exerts
Australian Sailing Racing Rule Of Sailing 55.3(a)
outward pressure on a sheet or clew of a sail at a point from
which, with the boat upright, a vertical line would fall outside the hull or deck, except:
(a) a headsail clew may be connected (as defined in The
Equipment Rules of Sailing) to a whisker pole, provided
that a spinnaker is not set;
(b) any sail may be sheeted to or led above a boom that is
regularly used for a sail and is permanently attached to the
mast from which the head of the sail is set;
(c) a headsail may be sheeted to its own boom that requires
no adjustment when tacking; &
(d) the boom of a sail may be sheeted to a bumkin.
The International Jury found that in the last 4 kilometres (2 nautical miles) of the race, BNC – my::NET / LEON set & used its A1.5 asymmetric spinnaker, with a spar connected to the sheet at one end and the mast at the other end. The spar exerted outward pressure on the sheet at a point from which, with the boat upright, a vertical line would fall outside the hull or deck. You can see the way the sail was set here:
The journey to this protest has been an interesting one over the past 24 hours. After BNC – my::NET / LEON and Min River crossed the finish line & the latter watching the official broadcast of the former’s finish, an initial protest was brought to the International Jury’s attention by Min River, claiming BNC – my::NET / LEON had breached Australian Sailing Racing Rule Of Sailing 55.3(a).
BNC – my::NET / LEON this morning declared they had, in fact, breached that rule on the last 4 kilometres (2 nautical miles) downwind towards the finishing line, which initialised a 2nd protest, this time by the Race Committee, who promptly informed BNC – my::NET / LEON of their intention. This latter protest has been resolved, as you can read above, while the former protest is still being heard.
The International Jury consists of Jamie Sutherland of New Zealand, Philippe Mazard of France, Russell Green of New Zealand & Richard Slater and David Tillett of Australia, the latter who is the Jury’s chair.
Line Honours
The IRC penalty comes after Comanche, a VPLP Verdier 100, took its 4th line honours victory at 06:03:36am AEDT on December the 28th, beating LawConnect, a custom Juan K 100, by 47 minutes and 4 seconds & 9 nautical miles (17 kilometres).
It was the 31-metre yacht’s 4th ever victory. She didn’t break the race record this year, which they currently hold & is a finishing date/time of December 27th at 10:15:24pm AEDT.
All but 4 of the 19-person crew of Comanche in 2024 were the same this year plus they had 2 additional crew members.
It’s absolutely amazing. We had a great lead during the race & then it evaporated this morning. We effectively had to restart. I’ve never seen anything like it in the Sydney-Hobart — all the boats so close together on day 2. To win it twice makes it even more special.
It’s not good. You’ve had a handy lead & then you’re watching it disappear. We had to work hard to get it back in the later quarter of the race.
Matt Allen, ‘Comanche’ co-skipper
There was just no wind — it totally dissipated. The boats behind caught us, brought the breeze back down & then we all parked up for a while but everyone stayed calm.
We’re an incredible team & that’s what we focus on. We were there to do a job & show who we are as Master Lock Comanche. When the challenge was thrown at us, we knew exactly what we had to do.
We saw puffs developing near the shore, started moving & suddenly we had a proper boat race. We were only a length apart for close to 100 miles. That was special.
We stuck to our game plan. We wanted to be closer to the coast. We could see something developing there. The breeze filled in from inshore. We got moving 1st, got the lead back & then we were able to extend.
James Mayo, ‘Comanche’ co-skipper
An informal trophy giving ceremony was held at the Hobart Race Village when Comanche docked, where they were given the John H Illingworth Challenge Cup & a Rolex timepiece.
Meanwhile, the formal Prizegiving will be held at 3pm at the Hotel Grand Chancellor.
There are still 5 yachts racing.
Virtual Race
Also, in the e-race on Virtual Regatta, French user, EdY-PVe/SERVTEC/D-ICE finished on the 29th of December at 7:47:29pm AEDT to win out of a field of 12,234 skippers, winning in front of 2nd place user, MC kele / INC-BUREAU VALLEE of Italy, by 6 seconds.
More to come.
Sydney Spectaculars 
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