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Sydney Hobart veteran to race south on board dream yacht

Home 2026 Sydney Hobart veteran to race south on board dream yacht

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It’s not surprising that Michael, ‘Spiesy’, Spies entered the 2026 Rolex Sydney Hobart days after entries opened. The race would not be the same without him: the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and Southport Yacht Club member has competed in 47 Sydney Hobarts.

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Spies on board Maritimo Katwinchar - CYCA/Ashley Dart pic.

What might pique interest is that Spies chose to enter a boat that may not be familiar to his peers: a J/160, Sugar, recently renamed Maritimo 160, launched in 2000. 

A legend in the skiff and yachting world, Spies recently competed in the 2024 and 2025 Sydney Hobarts on board the 126-year-old Maritimo Katwinchar (Watney Circa 1904), owned by Bill Barry-Cotter. This time he will cross the Sydney Harbour start line on Boxing Day on board his own boat, which, at 53 feet, is around 20 feet (six metres) longer than the 33 foot Maritimo Katwinchar.

What might pique interest is that Spies chose to enter a boat that may not be familiar to his peers: a J/160, Sugar, recently renamed Maritimo 160, launched in 2000.

 

Maritimo Katwinchar leaves Sydney Harbour in the 2024 Bird Island Race - CYCA/Vito Feremans

A legend in the skiff and yachting world, Spies recently competed in the 2024 and 2025 Sydney Hobarts on board the 126-year-old Maritimo Katwinchar (Watney Circa 1904), owned by Bill Barry-Cotter. This time he will cross the Sydney Harbour start line on Boxing Day on board his own boat, which, at 53 feet, is around 20 feet (six metres) longer than the 33 foot Maritimo Katwinchar. 

"It's perfect," he said. “We just did a couple of little subtle things to improve it here and there without losing its integrity.” 

Now, the yacht will make the journey to Australia, with a few stops along the way. Firstly, Spies will sail the yacht to San Francisco. There, he will compete in the 2,100 nautical mile Pacific Cup, a biennial race from San Francisco, California to Kaneohe, Hawaii.

  

Maritimo 160 getting ready for delivery from LA to San Francisco for the start of the Pacific Cup - Maritimo 160 pic

Spies said his well-balanced crew of around seven, across several nationalities, should be able to get the yacht, which is not light, “through the racecourse in quite a competitive and seeming way — with a bit of luck.” 

After the race, Spies will sail Maritimo 160 to Hamilton Island, where he's a member of the Race Management team for Hamilton Island Race Week in August. The final delivery leg is to Sydney ahead of the 81st Sydney Hobart in December. 

Although Maritimo 160 won't break any speed records, Spies, who won the race on Line Honours in 1999 and on IMS Overall in 2003, is looking forward to racing his "forever boat" south. After the finish, he has his sights set on cruising 'maybe medium term, the northern circuit in Queensland and then around Asia’.  

"Every regatta I've done in the last four or five decades — you finish it and you're on a plane to somewhere else," Spies said.  

"It'd just be nice to actually slow down a bit and enjoy life It's the sort of boat that you could comfortably live on." 

Featured image - CYCA/Andrea Francolini

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