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Rolex Sydney Hobart: Comanche is first home flying up the Derwent at 22kts

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 28 Dec 2025 10:51 GMT
Master Lock Comanche rounding Tasman Island © Rolex / Andrea Francolini

Master Lock Comanche won line honours in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race - and never looked like being headed after rounding Tasman Island, the final major turning point in the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

The 100fter, which is also the race record holder, rounded Tasman Island at 3.30pm AEDT with a lead of 5nm over Law Connect and SHK Scallywag. and continued to finish the race two and a half hours later 6.03pm in the time of 2 days 5 hours 3 minutes - around 20 hour short of her race record set in 2017.

The pace at which Master Lock Comanche blasted the last 40nm took most by surprise - not so much that the race record holder is not capable of sustained speeds of well over 20kts, but that the breeze held across Storm Bay and up the Derwent River - a region notable for its fickle conditions. Master Lock Comanche (Matt Allen & James Mayo) recorded a time of 2days 5hrs 3mins.

Second boat home was LawConnect (Christian Beck), also a 100ft supermaxi, and line honours winner of the 2024 race. She finished 47minutes astern, of Comanche, at 6.50pm followed by SHK Scallywag 24 minutes later at 7.14pm. Fourth in the cavalcade was the US entry, Bryon Ehrhart's 88fter Lucky which finished 20 minutes later at 7.34pm taking 2days 6hrs 34minutes for the 628nm course. Palm Beach XI, was the last of the supermaxis to finish, with the Mark Richards skippered entry crossing the finish line just before 9.00pm.

Celestial, the Volvo 70 skippered by Sam Haynes, is widely expected to take overall honours for the second successive year. She struggled to round Tasman Island, with her speed dropping to 4.5kts as she turned the corner, but with 36nm to the finish she was making a nice 11.5kts, and provided the breeze held, should make her target elapsed time of 2days 26hrs and 15mins - or finish by 5.15am on Monday.

The 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart will be notable for the way the very competitive, five strong, supermaxi fleet got through some tough upwind conditions with only one withdrawal, and then restarted the race at dawn on the final day as the breeze lightened off in advance of a high pressure cell moving across Tasmania.

For several hours it appeared that Hong Kong entry SHK Scallywag (Seng Huang Lee, skippered by David Witt) would be able to turn the tables and take their first win, however no IRC monohull in the world has the ability to contain the VPLP Verdier design in a breeze above 8kts with the sheets cracked.

It was just a matter of time, once the breeze settled in before, the inevitable happened and the broad beamed top rater, Comanche would power through.

Retirements List as at 0800hrs AEDT:

  • Ambition - Retired - hull damage
  • Avalanche (DH) - Retired - battery charging issues
  • Awen - Retired - broken forestay
  • Chancellor - Retired - steering damage
  • Coastwatcher - Retired - medical incident
  • Hutchies Yeah Baby - Retired - headstay damage
  • Inukshuk (DH) - Retired - rudder issues
  • Koa - Retired - headstay foil issues
  • Kraken 42S - Retired - crew injury and electrical issues
  • Le Tiroflan - Retired - forestay damage
  • Loch Sloidh 3 - Retired - skippers discretion
  • Maritimo 100 - Retired - electrical issues
  • Maritimo Katwinchar - Retired - skipper’s discretion
  • Mazu Denali's Little Helper - Retired - battery issues
  • Minerva - Retired - engine issues
  • Mistral (DH) - Retired - crew injury
  • Moneypenny - Retired - equipment issues
  • Mudgee Concrete - Retired - rigging issues
  • Ocean Crusaders J-Bird - Retired - minor hull damage
  • Philosopher - Retired - rudder issues
  • Ragtime - Retired - equipment issues
  • Roaring Forty (DH) - Retired - seasickness
  • Titoki (DH) - Retired - rigging issues
  • Troubadour - Retired - seasickness
  • Trouble & Strife - Retired - engine issues
  • Unicoin - Retired - pulpit damage
  • URM Group - Retired - hull damage
  • V5 - Retired - keel damage
  • Vixen Racing - Retired - crew injury
  • White Noise - Retired - rigging issues.
  • Wild Thing 100 - Retired - rigging issues
  • Wine-Dark Sea - Retired - equipment issues
  • Wots Next - Retired - minor crew injuries

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