The 80th Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race came down to a three-way tactical contest between Master Lock Comanche, LawConnect and SHK Scallywag 100, with Line Honours stubbornly unresolved well into the final stages as offshore strategy gave way to something resembling match racing at close quarters.
History provided the backdrop. Over the two preceding editions of the Rolex Sydney Hobart, LawConnect had set the early tempo and turned it into victories. She edged Comanche by just 51 seconds in 2023, then watched her rival retire in 2024 with catastrophic mainsail damage. Arriving at the 2025 start, Comanche was in no mood to surrender the initiative again, and that intent shaped the race from its opening moments.
SHK Scallywag 100 brought its own unfinished business to the start line. Winless at Hobart and forced to retire in 2023 with a broken bowsprit, the 80th edition represented another opportunity for skipper David Witt to finally put that record straight.
Comanche took the position her Verdier-designed 100-foot hull demands at the start, front and centre. When the gun fired, the two front-runners split immediately: LawConnect committed to starboard while Comanche held port, each boat hunting for leverage and neither willing to concede the favoured side of the course.
The first meaningful decision came soon after clearing Sydney Heads, where a hard southerly established two distinct lanes. LawConnect worked the inshore route while Comanche pushed further offshore, accepting heavier exposure to the building sea state in exchange for steadier pressure and cleaner air. It was a calculated trade-off that would take time to resolve.
Past Botany Bay and Wollongong, the two boats tracked within a couple of miles of each other. Lucky, Palm Beach XI and Scallywag formed the next group, already some distance adrift, confirming that Comanche and LawConnect were both sailing efficiently through the power band while the wider fleet stretched.
*Early progress in rough water*
The opening hours were characterised by short, punchy seas and widespread attrition. Under those conditions, making progress meant holding a sustainable mode and protecting structure and systems. Comanche surrendered a little ground early before steadying, then committed harder to the offshore lane as conditions settled overnight. By the 9.30pm AEDT update on the starting day she had moved into the lead. The margin was slim, but her sustained speed pointed to a boat pressing the right buttons rather than merely surviving.
*Overnight consolidation through the Tasman Sea*
The overnight run south exposed the difference in how each campaign was travelling. LawConnect began absorbing a series of mechanical setbacks, including a broken mainsheet, halyard trouble, repeated headsail drops, and subsequent sail damage. Managing those failures while staying competitive demanded a particular kind of discipline from her crew.
By Saturday morning the race had entered its most consequential phase. Comanche and LawConnect led into the Tasman Sea with Scallywag and Lucky still within striking distance. As the breeze built into the 20 to 30 knot range, Comanche held a narrow lead with 362 miles to run, averaging just under 13 knots, with LawConnect only 4.2 miles astern.
*Tasman Sea and mechanical sympathy*
Managing the platform carefully was what this stretch demanded. Comanche could generate strong boat speed, but only within her designed load and angle parameters. The Strait penalised over-commitment heavily, as the attrition toll across the fleet made plain. Her lead through this section built steadily rather than dramatically, founded on holding pace while rivals behind her managed damage and dropped into preservation modes.
LawConnect remained close enough to maintain pressure without ever decisively displacing Comanche from the front. Further back, Scallywag and Lucky pulled away from Palm Beach XI and began their own tight match race until Scallywag finally broke clear and began accelerating toward the leaders with evident purpose.
*Compression off St Helens Point*
The most unpredictable phase of the race arrived late. South of St Helens Point the breeze fell apart, and the leaderboard churned with it, reshuffled by positioning and misfortune rather than outright pace. LawConnect tore a significant gap in her mainsail, suffered forebeam damage and found herself racing without instruments. Comanche was slowed by the coastal transition as the fleet compressed to within a mile or two.
Scallywag used the better pressure she found to close rapidly on the leading pair, and for a time Comanche slipped to third in a three-way shuffle with Scallywag and LawConnect that kept anyone following the tracker in a state of suspense. Wind shifts, coastal effects and tide lines were driving rapid gains and losses, and with those three boats exchanging positions, Line Honours felt genuinely open.
Staying further east offered marginally better breeze, and LawConnect capitalised on that line briefly. Comanche balanced her sail trim with lateral positioning to avoid being pinned.
*The decisive overtakes*
Two late moves settled it. Comanche reasserted herself after the St Helens compression, and the defining pass came north of Cape Sonnerat, where she overtook Scallywag to reclaim the lead. From that point she held her angle and maintained the pressure required to carry cleanly into the Derwent without offering a way back.
Master Lock Comanche crossed the line after 2 days, 5 hours, 3 minutes and 36 seconds, a controlled and technically disciplined Line Honours victory in the 80th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
Congratulations to Matt Allen, James Mayo and the entire crew of Master Lock Comanche, including Phil Jameson from New Zealand, from everyone at Boating New Zealand and Insight Media.
