THE 100-FOOTERS ARE A UNIQUE BREED, AND THE ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART RACE IS THEIR MOST ANTICIPATED SHOWDOWN, AS CROSBIE LORIMER REPORTS
When Jim Clark was being guided through the early design and build discussions for his 100ft yacht Comanche with skipper Ken Read, Read asked Clark whether he really understood what he was getting into. The owner’s response was candid and unequivocal: “Well no, not really, but it sounds like fun. Let’s do it!”
There were likely similar conversations had by all 10 or so owners that have at some point taken custodianship of the five grand prix 100-footer yachts (formerly known as super maxis) still on the sailing scene in Australia today. And while their motives for racing a 100-footer are varied, all share several traits with Clark; highly successful in business, fiercely competitive and – unsurprisingly – each has very, very deep pockets!
Remarkably, the five current 100-footers have launch dates going back 18 years, with the earliest being the Oatley family’s Hamilton Wild Oats XI (2005), Black Jack, originally Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo II (2005) and SHK Scallywag, originally Charles St Clair Brown’s Maximus (2005), which did not race to Hobart this year; then LawConnect, originally Speedboat 100 (2008), and finally Comanche in 2014.
So there have been no new 100-footers launched in the last nine years, after the three ‘skinny’ generation yachts were succeeded by the beamy record hunters now racing as LawConnect and Andoo Comanche. Given such a generational change it seems confounding that all five boats could still have a realistic chance of being first across the line in Hobart, but the line honours record sheet and the presence of many of the world’s best sailors and navigators aboard every year shows that to be true.
So why is the race to Hobart the main contest of choice for 100-footers? And what keeps the owners throwing eye-watering amounts of money at trying to secure the coveted JH Illingworth Challenge Cup for a line honours win, year after year?
The answer lies partly in the race’s spectacle, and partly in its format. Way back in the era of black and white television, footage of massive crowds lining a sunny Sydney Harbour was a regular feature of British television news on Boxing Day. For a post-Christmas audience in the northern hemisphere, facing a long winter ahead, the summery images in December lent a unique cachet to the event. Organisers the Cruising Yacht Club of Austr
