The winners of the 2016 Sydney-Hobart Race

Domination of Juan Kouyoumdjian designs

We express our gratitude to Donan Raven for the translation of this text (French to English)

http://sailingtrivia.ravenyachts.fr/

The 72nd edition of the Sydney-Hobart race has been a complete success for the Juan Kouyoumdjian design studio, both in corrected time and elapsed time. Perpetual Loyal set a new record of 1 day, 13 hours, 31 minutes and 20 seconds, breaking the previous record of 1 day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds held by Wild Oats XI  since 2012; An impressive gain of 4 hours, 51 minutes and 52 seconds. In corrected time, Perpetual Loyal arrived in second place.

Perpetual Loyal, ex Rambler 100 ex Speedboat, had been purchased by Australian accountant and yachtsman Anthony Bell, who had previously won line honours in the 2011 edition of the Sydney Hobart race, narrowly beatingWild Oats XI by 3 minutes and 8 seconds on another boat, Investec Loyal, ex Maximus, a 2005 Greg Eliott & Clay Oliver design.

This Kouyoumdjian design, launched in 2008, seemed really extreme at launch; Half her displacement is located in her canting keel, which can be rotated to windward. This year, Anthony Bell hired Olympian gold medalist Tom Slingsby as his relief helmsman and co-skipper, as well as navigator Tom Addis, and the following crew: Tony Mutter, P. Arrarte, R. Sutherland, B. Kellett, J. Clougher, E. Molan, A. Mons, M. Parker, T. Oxley, J. Flannery, N. Dana, C. Nicholson, P. Caligeros, J. Akacich, A. Pratt, C. Maxted and J. Winning.

In corrected time, the Tattersall Cup was handed to Giacomo, ex Groupama 4 (winner of the 2012 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race), acquired in 2013 by New Zealander Jim Delagat, owner of the Delagat Wine Estate. She arrived in Hobart in second place on elapsed time, less than two hours behind Perpetual Royal and ahead of the previous record held by Wild Oats XI. The yacht had arrived in sixth position in 2013.

Scallywag ex-Ragamuffin 100 was third across the finish line, just 2 minutes and 10 seconds behind Giacomo, and sixth on corrected time. The Ragamuffin yachts are an intricate part of Australian yachting history; Their owner Syd Fisher has taken part in the Sydney Hobart race 46 times, and earned countless prizes since the first Ragamuffin in 1968.

Designed by Andrew Dovell, Ragamuffin 100 is first and foremost a compromise yacht, competitive in all weather conditions, including light winds. Her hard-chine bilged hull is not exceedingly wide, features a short and flat waterline, as well as water ballasts to adjust heel angle and pitch angle. Her new owner Seng Huang Lee, from Hong Kong, hired skipper David Witt and his crew to sail the yacht in this year's race.

Wild Oats XI, always slippered by Mark Richards, was not able to complete the course this year because of hydraulic keelram problems, despite leading the fleet at Flinders Island, north of Tasmania. Launched just three weeks ahead of her inaugural Sydney-Hobart race in 2005, Wild Oats XI was able to dominate all her opponents in her first season. Since then she has collected enough silverware to appear invincible: ten Sydney-Hobart line honours, amongst which two trebles (winning both Illingworth and Tattersall Cups as well as setting new records) Since 2005 she has undergone continuous appendage modifications to improve her performance: originally a canting-ballast-twin-foil, her forward canard was removed, she was fitted with two midship daggerboards as well as a bow centerboard and a horizontal lateral retractable foil amidships in 2013. She underwent a complete hull surgery at the McConaghy yard in 2015, where she was topped 10 metres at the bow and tailed 2 metres at the stern in order to sleeken her waterlines and deepen her bow. Her bowsprit was lengthened by 75cm in order to carry up to 600sqm of light wind head sails. The horizontal foils were removed this year to save weight, as they were no longer deemed efficient with the new bow. The new lines of Wild Oats XI feature a hull with a slightly more rounded bilge, flaring topsides, an extremely sleek and narrow waterline (4.10m). Notably, the centerline of this narrow hull barely changes as the yacht heels, allowing for excellent upwind capability.

CQS ex-Nicorette III, ex-Aapt, ex-YuuZoo, ex-Tokolosh VI, was designed by Simonis Voogd Yacht Design in 2004 with a 90 foot length. She was redesigned and lengthened to 100 feet by New Zealand naval architect Brett Bakewell-White in 2016. Although the original Nicorette III was already an innovator thanks to her canting keel, CQS innovates again with a few original innovations: Her reverse tumblehome bow resembles that of AC45 catamarans. Her faired shroud outriggers widen the yacht from a 4.70m beam to 7.35m. A forward centerboard and horizontal foils amidships were fitted to the yacht and the deck now features an overhanging ledge on either side of the stern, for a better righting moment when the crew is hiked. Please find detailed plans on the team's dedicated website:

http://www.bigboatracing.com/about-boat

In November, CQS took line honours and set a new record at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club's Round White Island Race. However, due to problems  hydraulics and foils already at the start line, CQS only finnished in seventh place, and 63rd overall, but seems determined to take part in the race next year.

François Chevalier

Boat specifications

Perpetual Loyal ex-Rambler 100, ex-Speedboat

100ft IRC supermaxi

Sloop

Yacht designer: Juan Kouyoumdjian


Shipyard: Cookson Boats, Auckland, NZ

Date of launch: April 17th, 2008


Length of Hull: 30.48m

Load Waterline Length: 29.99m


Beam: 7.35m


Draught: 6.22m


Air Draught: 47.00m


Bowsprit length: 5.00m

Displacement: 30.6 metric tonnes

Water ballast: 8,000L

Mainsail area: 375sqm

Upwind sail area: 660sqm

Maximum downwind sail area: 1,340sqm

Giacomo ex-Groupama 4

Volvo Open 70

Sloop

Designer : Juan Kouyoumdjian


Shipyard: Multiplast, Vannes, France

Date of launch: May 16th, 2011


Length of Hull: 21.50m

Waterline Length: 21.50m


Beam: 5.70m


Draught: 4.50m


Air draught: 31.60m


Bowsprit: 2.00m

Displacement: 14 metric tonnes

Ballast: 7.4 metric tonnes

Upwind sail area : 315sqm


Maximum downwind sail area: 675sqm

Scallywag ex-Ragamuffin 100

100ft IRC supermaxi

Sloop

Designer: Andrew Dovell

Shipyard: Cookson Boats, Auckland, NZ

Date of launch: December 2nd, 2014

Length of Hull: 30.48m

Waterline Length: 28.65m


Beam: 5.78m


Draught: 5.65m


Air draught: 45.40m


Bowsprit: 4.55m

Displacement: 32 metric tonnes

Water ballast : 6,000L

Mainsail area: 375sqm

Upwind sail area: 610sqm


Maximum downwind sail area: 1,300sqm

Wild Oats XI

100ft IRC supermaxi

Sloop

Designer: Reichel/Pug

Shipyard: McConaghy Boats, Sydney, Australia

Date of christening: December 2nd, 2005

Length of Hull: 30.48m

Waterline Length: 30.48m

Beam: 5.10m

Draught: 5.94m

Air draught: 44.00m


Bowsprit: 3.50m

Displacement: 32 metric tonnes

Mainsail area: 390sqm

Upwind sail area: 630sqm


Maximum downwind sail area: 1,400sqm