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Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
COMING SOON
18 March, 2026
View Results

Home Race 2005 Recap

2005 Race Recap

Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI crossing Bass Strait

Wild Oats XI, skippered to victory by Mark Richards in 2005

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2005

Race Program

Prior to each race Cruising Yacht Club of Australia publishes a separate official race program (with details of competing boats, the results of past races and articles about the race and its participants and other important events).  The 2005 Edition is here.    

Weather

The 61st Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race saw another historic seamark in ocean racing with the new 30 metre maxi yacht Wild Oats XI taking line honours in record time and overall first place on corrected time.  It was the first time any boat had achieved the triple since Rani won the inaugural race in 1945 and only the fifth time that the line honours winner had also won on handicap. 

Although Wild Oats XI broke the record with an elapsed time of 1 day 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds it was achieved in what many competitors described as 'benign' sailing conditions, certainly so when compared with the galeforce winds of 1999 when Nokia set the previous open record.  Almost the entire race, at least for the front runners, was sailed in running or close reaching conditions that clearly favoured the bigger boats and, in particular, those with canting keels, when it came to calculating the IRC rating results.

The maxis and most of the other big boats sailed the entire 638 nautical miles without encountering a southerly front.  The race started from two lines on Sydney Harbour in a light north-north-easterly breeze, enabling the fleet to sail to the Heads on a single fetch and then freeing sheets slightly to lay Mark Zulu, one nautical miles due east, before setting a course for Tasmania.

For the first 30 hours the fleet sailed in light and patchy breezes, with the front runners swapping the lead in close reaching and running conditions - and still behind Nokia's record-breaking positions in 1999.  On the afternoon of day two, however, as the maxis led the fleet across Bass Strait, the winds picked up to about 30 knots from the north-east, ahead of a forecast west/south-westerly change.  Down the Tasmanian East Coast, Wild Oats XI reached a top speed of 30 knots in 32 knots of breeze as she approached Tasman Island.  A series of mishaps - a blown-out spinnaker, a broken boom vang and then a damaged mainsail - slowed her down and she finished under headsail only, but still an hour inside the record.

Smaller boats were in contention for top IRC handicap results for much of the race, despite the less favourable conditions for them across Bass Strait and down the Tasmanian East Coast.  On the second morning, many of the smaller boats were hit by a strong 30-40 knot west/south-westerly change as they entered Bass Strait.  The change moderated quickly, but conditions were rough and the winds unfavourable throughout the day and the following night. Nevertheless, only four boats retired from the race, three with rigging problems, the other with rudder and radio problems, and all but one boat was home by New Year's Eve.

Race reports

After each race, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's magazine Offshore contains photo galleries, reports and articles on the race.  Read on to access them.

February / March 2006 Offshore - see pages 26 to 40