This year is the fourth-largest fleet with 170 vessels taking part, making it the second-largest since the race’s 50th anniversary in 1994 when 371 boats participated. Boat lengths have ranged from 27 to 100 feet.
Among this year’s fleet vying for the Tattersall Cup are five Supermaxis, including Peter Harburg’s Black Jack of Queensland; Cooney and Samantha Grant’s record-holder Comanche of New South Wales; Christian Beck’s InfoTrack of New South Wales; the Oatley family’s Wild Oats XI of New South Wales; and Seng Huang Lee’s SHK Scallywag 100 of Hong Kong.
This year England, Ireland, France, China, Hungary, Poland, Hong Kong and the United States are represented. The largest number comes from Australia, with New South Wales leading with more than 90 boats.
There are 10 past overall winners, including last year’s victor, Philip Turner’s Alive, Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban and Bob Steel’s Quest. Love & War, a classic yacht owned by Simon Kurts, returns as one of only two three-time winners.
“We’re very excited about returning for the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart and defending our Tattersall Cup title,” Duncan Hine, skipper of Alive, said in a statement.
“We could not imagine missing the race,” he said. “The opportunity to compete in both the 50th Transpac and the 75th Sydney Hobart in one year is almost too good to be true. After six days of heavy downwind sailing in the Transpac, the Sydney Hobart may seem like a sprint, but in many ways it is technically much more challenging. It is certainly going to be a memorable one.”
Thirty classic yachts will also race in this year’s edition, including Bill Barry-Cotter’s Katwinchar, a wooden boat built in 1904 and the oldest boat to ever compete in the race. Katwinchar will be joined by other classics including Fidelis; Nigel Stokes’ Knud Reimers 61 design, which won in 1966; and the Kialoa II, a Sparkman & Stephens yawl that won in 1971.
