Two pink-hulled yachts were the first to lock in entries for the 81st Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, and both have a score to settle with the race.
Within minutes of entries opening at 1130 hours on Tuesday 26 May, Grant Wharington and Adrian Seiffert's maxi Wild Thing 100 (AUS) and Sharon Ferris-Choat's Verdier 40 Vixen Racing (NZL) had secured their spots. Both retired from last year's 80th edition, and both are coming back to finish the job.
"It's really funny that the pink boats were the first to enter," Ferris-Choat said over the phone from Opua.
For Wharington, just getting the entry in early was itself a first. The Gold Coast sailor has 32 Sydney Hobart starts to his name, but he's never beaten the queue before. "We got in first, it's incredible. It's the first time in 33 races that I've ever been early," he said, crediting Wild Thing 100 boat captain Theodore Somssich for clicking submit at the right moment. "Theo was on the ball! He was very proud of himself – got to it 15 seconds before Ricko [Mark Richards]," Wharington said.
Wild Thing 100's retirement from the 80th edition was particularly gutting. A runner block failure and problems with the reef lock lashing left the Queensland crew unable to make safe repairs in rough offshore conditions, forcing them out in the early hours of 27 December. It was the first time the 100-footer, converted from 80 to 100 feet in 2023, had raced with a mast suited to its hull size.
Work is already underway to fix those problems. The mast is being modified on the Gold Coast, and further changes to the yacht's displacement are planned to tackle the upwind performance issues that hurt her in stronger conditions last year. Wharington has his sights set on matching or bettering Wild Thing 100's third place IRC Overall finish from 2024. And he's equally motivated by what waits at the end of the race. "There is nothing like Hobart," he said.
Vixen Racing, representing Bay of Islands Yacht Club, had her own painful exit from last year's race. Well placed on night two of the 628-nautical-mile race, a massive wave left a crew member with rib injuries and ended their campaign. "We can't wait to be on the start line on Boxing Day. It's unfinished business – we were doing so well last year," Ferris-Choat said.
Ferris-Choat, a two-time Olympian and holder of several world sailing speed records, runs Vixen Racing as an offshore sailing programme that sells positions on board for races, regattas, and sailing courses. She is one of three co-owners and is keen to use the programme to inspire crew members to one day race their own boat to Hobart. She also hinted at the possibility of an all-women crew for the December race, with sponsorship the deciding factor. "We'll see," she said.
Before any of that, Ferris-Choat has more immediate business. She starts the Solo Trans-Tasman Challenge, a 1170-nautical-mile solo offshore race from Opua Cruising Club to Southport Yacht Club, on Saturday 30 May, and is looking forward to the 40-knot conditions forecast. After that, fully crewed racing beckons: the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast in July, race weeks in Queensland, and then Hobart. "I can't wait to have a crew back again rather than prepping the yacht solo," she said.
The entry list has already reached 24 boats, with Mark Richards' maxi Palm Beach XI, Sean Langman's Reichel Pugh GP42 Back 2 Black, and Richard Hudson's IC 45 MOD Pretty Woman among those confirmed for the Boxing Day start.
