Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Kinsale's Cinnamon Girl Finishes Fourth Overall, First Corinthian, and First Overseas In Hobart Race's Two-Handed Division

30th December 2023
Two-Handed winner Mistral (Ruper Henry) gets a touch of the rainbow approaching the Hobart finish with a goood breeze on the edge of an early afternoon shower
Two-Handed winner Mistral (Ruper Henry) gets a touch of the rainbow approaching the Hobart finish with a goood breeze on the edge of an early afternoon shower

On this cool Saturday evening in Hobart, Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt of Kinsale brought their chartered Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl-Eden Capital in at 9:11 pm local time to the Tasmanian port city's waterfront to finish fourth on water and fourth overall in the Two-Handed division in the Sydey-Hobart Race 2023.

They had been sailing at 6.6 knots in the outer approaches to the line, but the firm sou'sou'west wind which has set the tone and the pace for the past day and more as the smaller craft make their way toward a finish port faded at dusk to make for a slow finish for the Kinsale duo,
making them at least an hour later than had seemed likely earlier in the evening.

MAIN TROPHIES GET FIRST APPEARANCE

In Hobart, the historic main trophies - the John Illingworth Cup for first to finish and the Tattersall Cup for best time in IRC, had appeared for informal dockside award ceremonies which will become more formal at the official prize distribution early next week, but by then many of the big noises in international professional sailing will already have long since departed Tasmania.

 The overall-winning RP 66 Alive crew with skippper Duncan Hine get an informal presentation of the Tattersall Cup. As a Hobart-registered boat, Alive's overall win - her second - has brought great local pride The overall-winning RP 66 Alive crew with skippper Duncan Hine get an informal presentation of the Tattersall Cup. As a Hobart-registered boat, Alive's overall win - her second - has brought great local pride

 Alive's navigator Adrienne Cahalan with the Tattersall Cup - this was her 31st Hobart Race, and it's not the first time the Offaly-born internationally-rated navigator ha won this very special prize Alive's navigator Adrienne Cahalan with the Tattersall Cup - this was her 31st Hobart Race, and it's not the first time the Offaly-born internationally-rated navigator ha won this very special prize

But for Cinnamon Girl's crew and others in the Corinthian Division (in which she placed xy), the attractively-located port of Hobart on the Derwent Estuary is an exciting place, particularly on your first visit at the end of a Sydney-Hobart Race, and a challenging one at that.

From an early stage, it was clear that the pace-setter in the Two-Handed Division would be the boxy-but-fast Lombard 34 Mistral (Rupert Henry & Jack Boutell), yet that didn't prevent Cinnamon Girl and her sister ship Kraken III (sailed by former RSHR Two-Handed winners Rob Gough and John Saul) from filling the leader slot on IRC from time to time.

Rupert Henry and Jack Boutell on the Two-Handed victor Mistral. Handsome is as handsome does - the uncompromisingly boxy Lombard 34 is a Marc Lombard creation, and he also designed the successful 45-footer Pata Negra, now owned by the Hall family, who sail from PwllheliRupert Henry and Jack Boutell on the Two-Handed victor Mistral. Handsome is as handsome does - the uncompromisingly boxy Lombard 34 is a Marc Lombard creation, and he also designed the successful 45-footer Pata Negra, now owned by the Hall family, who sail from Pwllheli

But as the race progressed, Mistral's slightly but significantly larger size put her steadily further ahead, and in the end, it brought her sooner to a much steadier wind stream, which had her across the line in early afternoon today, a couple of minutes before 3.0pm local time to give an elapsed time for the 628-mile race of 3 days 19 hours and 53 minutes which corrected to 4 days 1 hour and 57 minutes.

This gave her a clear win by almost four hours on CT over second-placed Kraken III, while third was the new JPK 10.30 Min River owned by Sydney's Jiang Lin, who has now logged three TSHR TH races, and raced with her co-skippper Americ Belloir. But while the leading three carried the breeze to the finish, when Cinnamon Girl was nearing the line, a calm night was descending on the scene, providing her with a finish time which didn't reflect her competitive performance during the race.

CINNAMON GIRL'S OUTSTANDING SUCCESS IN CORINTHIAN DIVISION

Nevertheless, it meant she was the leader of the Corinthian Division in her class and is second overall in the Corinthian Division for the fleet as a whole, with the amateurs won by Richard Hudson's Farr 45 Pretty Woman, while in third slot in the Corinthians behind Cinnamon Girl is Richard Williams' Cookson 40 Calibre 12, which was fourth in the open Division 3 with the crew notably including bowman Stephanie Lyons. She's also of Kinsale YC connections, so a spot of celebrating in Kinsale YC won't go amiss.

Results here

Published in Sydney to Hobart
WM Nixon

About The Author

WM Nixon

Email The Author

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

Direct Donation to Afloat button

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an annual offshore yacht racing event with an increasingly international exposure attracting super maxi yachts and entries from around tne world. It is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, New South Wales on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. The race distance is approximately 630 nautical miles (1,170 km).

The 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race starts in Sydney Harbour at 1pm (AEDT) on Monday 26 December.

This is the 77th edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart. The inaugural race was conducted in 1945 and has run every year since, apart from 2020, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

88 boats started the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart, with 50 finishing.

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - FAQs

The number of Sydney Hobart Yacht Races held by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia since 1945 is 75

6,257 completed the Sydney Hobart Yacht race, 1036 retired or were disqualified)

About 60,061 sailors have competed in the Sydney Hobart Race between 1945 and 2019

Largest fleets: 371 starters in the 50th race in 1994 (309 finished); 154 starters in 1987 (146 finished); 179 starters in 1985 (145 finished); 151 starters in 1984 (46 finished); 173 started in 1983 (128 finished); 159 started in 1981 (143 finished); 147 started in 1979 (142 finished); 157 started in 2019 (154 finished)

116 in 2004 (59 finished); 117 in 2014 (103 finished); 157 in 2019 (154 finished)

Nine starters in the inaugural Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in 1945

In 2015 and 2017 there were 27, including the 12 Clipper yachts (11 in 2017). In the record entry of 371 yachts in the 50th in 1994, there were 24 internationals

Rani, Captain John Illingworth RN (UK). Design: Barber 35’ cutter. Line and handicap winner

157 starters, 154 finishers (3 retirements)

IRC Overall: Ichi Ban, a TP52 owned by Matt Allen, NSW. Last year’s line honours winner: Comanche, Verdier Yacht Design and VPLP (FRA) owned by Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant, in 1 day 18 hours, 30 minutes, 24 seconds. Just 1hour 58min 32secs separated the five super maxis at the finish 

1 day 9 hours 15 minutes and 24 seconds, set in 2017 by LDV Comanche after Wild Oats XI was penalised one hour in port/starboard incident for a finish time of 1d 9h 48m 50s

The oldest ever sailor was Syd Fischer (88 years, 2015).

As a baby, Raud O'Brien did his first of some six Sydney Hobarts on his parent's Wraith of Odin (sic). As a veteran at three, Raud broke his arm when he fell off the companionway steps whilst feeding biscuits to the crew on watch Sophie Tasker sailed the 1978 race as a four-year-old on her father’s yacht Siska, which was not an official starter due to not meeting requirements of the CYCA. Sophie raced to Hobart in 1979, 1982 and 1983.

Quite a number of teenage boys and girls have sailed with their fathers and mothers, including Tasmanian Ken Gourlay’s 14-year-old son who sailed on Kismet in 1957. A 12-year-old boy, Travis Foley, sailed in the fatal 1998 race aboard Aspect Computing, which won PHS overall.

In 1978, the Brooker family sailed aboard their yacht Touchwood – parents Doug and Val and their children, Peter (13), Jacqueline (10), Kathryne (8) and Donald (6). Since 1999, the CYCA has set an age limit of 18 for competitors

Jane (‘Jenny’) Tate, from Hobart, sailed with her husband Horrie aboard Active in the 1946 Race, as did Dagmar O’Brien with her husband, Dr Brian (‘Mick’) O’Brien aboard Connella. Unfortunately, Connella was forced to retire in Bass Strait, but Active made it to the finish. The Jane Tate Memorial Trophy is presented each year to the first female skipper to finish the race

In 2019, Bill Barry-Cotter brought Katwinchar, built in 1904, back to the start line. She had competed with a previous owner in 1951. It is believed she is the oldest yacht to compete. According to CYCA life member and historian Alan Campbell, more than 31 yachts built before 1938 have competed in the race, including line honours winners Morna/Kurrewa IV (the same boat, renamed) and Astor, which were built in the 1920s.

Bruce Farr/Farr Yacht Design (NZL/USA) – can claim 20 overall wins from 1976 (with Piccolo) up to and including 2015 (with Balance)

Screw Loose (1979) – LOA 9.2m (30ft); Zeus II (1981) LOA 9.2m

TKlinger, NSW (1978) – LOA 8.23m (27ft)

Wild Oats XI (2012) – LOA 30.48m (100ft). Wild Oats XI had previously held the record in 2005 when she was 30m (98ft)

©Afloat 2020