The 100 footers are definitely the ride to have in the Sydney Hobart if you want your boat to be on National TV (Australian National TV that is.
I just re-checked the footage from 7 or Channel 7 the Aussie broadcaster of the last two Sydney Hobart starts (2016 & 2017) and you would hardly need to take your shoes and socks off to count the number of seconds coverage of smaller boats. So if you want some free video of your boat, make it 100’.
However, if you want to win the real prize – you know the one they engrave your name on – and in the Sydney Hobart it’s called the Tattersall Cup then 100 feet is not the way to go.
Over the 20 years between the 1995 – 2015 charges down the coast of New South Wales and across the Bass Strait the overall winner averaged out at 49’9”. How can I be so sure? Well I did the research when we sourced the Cookson 50, UBOX for the 2016 Race. (She was Pretty Fly 111)
Worked out pretty well as she took 3rd Overall in IRC and 1st Overall in ORCi.
I love history so I went digging a little further and in the last 10 years there have been 4 top 10 IRC finishes (in total) for the 100 footers including a win for the S-H specialist Wild Oats. On a Cookson however – 50’or 55’ – and you would have been one of 12 top ten finishers over the same period AND have a hell of a lot more money left in the bank. That list of top 10 included a win and a podium by the way. Spread it to any builder and last year 8, yes eight, of the top 10 were in a 10’ length range that straddles 50 feet.
Sadly Mick Cookson no longer builds boats but if you want to load the dice in 2018 then it is something close to 50 foot that you need, not something twice the size
Yep, if you want the best ride for a chance of a win or a podium in the Sydney Hobart, buy a 50 footer or thereabouts. 2016, 4 in the top 10 including 2 Cookson 50s; 2017, 8 of the top 10 were in the 10’range that straddles 50 foot and a 9th was 40 foot, the perpetual Chutzpah.
And no, this is NOT a pitch, UBOX is not for sale! – Shanghai Sailor.
