The 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race was a particularly challenging one with a near gale on the nose, blowing against the current for the first few days, creating a brutal sea state, and a painstaking, tactical drift to the finish. The stand-out result in these challenging conditions was achieved by a two-man crew sailing the smallest boat in the fleet, the J/99 Disko Trooper-Contender Sailcloth.
Sailed by Jules Hall and Contender Sailcloth’s director for Australia, Jan Scholten, they not only won the new two-handed division in all three handicap systems – IRC, ORCi and PHS – but if they’d been counted in the fully crewed category, they’d also have won overall in ORCi and come fourth in IRC. How did they do it?
