Racing
A Bittersweet Rolex Sydney Hobart
Hobart (December 30, 2016) – The Reichel/Pugh Team congratulates all competitors in the 2016 72nd edition of the annual 628 nm Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. The race concluded with several highlights for Reichel/Pugh-designed yachts:
RP66 Alive, a canting keel design launched in 2006 from Westerly Marine as Jim Madden’s Stark Raving Mad, and formerly Peter Harburg’s Black Jack, finished in the top ten for line honours and corrected to 6th in ORCi Div 1.
RP40 Chutzpah, launched in 2007 from Hart Marine and owned by Bruce and Drew Taylor, corrected to 2nd in IRC/ORCi Div 2.
RP51 Primitive Cool, launched in 2009 as Secret Men’s Business 3.5 from Hart Marine and now owned by John Newbold, corrected to 10th in IRC Div 1.
In 2012, R/P-designed Wild Oats XI, owned by the Oatley Family and Skippered by Mark Richards, posted a race record time of 1d:18h:23m:12s with an average speed of just 15 knots. Ideal record-breaking conditions two-days prior to this year’s race suggested the possibility of clipping three to six hours off the record pace. Earlier this year, the “silver bullet” averaged 21 knots when she set a new record for the 350 nm Brisbane to Keppel race. The top speed the yacht has recorded to date is 35 knots (65 km/hour). Speeds following the Reichel/Pugh-designed modification of the 11-metre long forward section of the hull which proved so efficient that further modifications recently removed the horizontal hydrofoil wing. “The new bow shape has made a dramatic difference to the yacht’s speed both upwind and down,” said Wild Oats XI’s skipper Mark Richards. “When racing downwind offshore we can now sail the yacht at more than 30 knots without any fear of nose-diving. This improvement means we no longer need the retractable horizontal wing to provide lift – it’s like excess baggage – so we’re going to remove it. It’s a decision that was also influenced by the fact that we’ll save more than 300 kilograms in hull weight.”
Racing for her 9th line honours in 12 starts and in the running for her third handicap victory, she sailed this edition in the memory of the yacht’s late owner, Bob Oatley, who died in January this year at age 87. In the afternoon of the first day, Wild Oats XI reported that they were holding a steady lead on the 88-boat fleet and already some 90 minutes ahead of the 2012 race record pace. After the yachts entered the Bass Straits approximately twenty hours into the race, Wild Oats XI was forced to retire for the second year in a row due to a heartbreaking hydraulic ram failure. For all the news from the Wild Oats team click to visit their site.
Highlights of the 2016 race can be found on the Rolex Yachting YouTube channel
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Title image courtesy of Kurt Arrigo
Race starts and Wild Oats XI courtesy of Daniel Forster
Tags: Alfa Romeo, Alive, Black Jack, Chutzpah, hartbreaker, morning glory, Primitive Cool, Rolex, Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, RSHYR, Secret Mens Business 3.5, Stark Raving Mad, Sydney Hobart Race, Wild Oats XI
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2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has long been known as one of the most challenging ocean races in the world, with owners, crews, and designers all pushing their boats to the limit hoping for victory. This year, the race is in its 72nd edition and features an exciting entry list of nearly 100 boats. The annual 628 mile offshore classic will once again start in Sydney Harbour on Boxing day – Monday, December 26th. The competitors will make their way out of Sydney Harbour and down the southeast coast of Australia, before crossing the Bass Strait in the open Southern Ocean. Once across the Bass Strait, the course passes the iconic Organ Pipes before sailing up the Derwent River to finish in Hobart, Tasmania.
Tags: Alfa Romeo, Alive, Black Jack, Chutzpah, hartbreaker, morning glory, Primitive Cool, Rolex, Secret Mens Business 3.5, Stark Raving Mad, Sydney Hobart Race, Wild Oats XI
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Throwback Thursday: Stark Raving Mad
Last week, team members Will Cyr and Adrian Sawyer toured Westerly Marine with the local Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers (SNAME), where Alive (Ex. Stark Raving Mad) was built in 2006.
Alive formerly known as Black Jack, was acquired by Tasmanian businessman Phillip Turner from Peter Harburg early in 2014 and is currently racing out of Brisbane and registered with the Derwent Sailing Squadron, Tasmania. Alive was originally launched in the US in 2006 as Stark Raving Mad and owned and campaigned by Jim Madden. At 66 foot Alive fits into the ‘mini-maxi’ size category. Her narrow, light and canting keel combined with a powerful new Southern Spar rig makes her a technically advanced and challenging boat. Read More …
Tags: Alive, Harburg, Stark Raving Mad, throwback thursday, Turner
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Newport Beach, CA (August 25, 2019) – Congratulations to Alec Oberschmidt and his team for the overall win (and B division win for the third year in a row) at the 2019 Long Point Race Week aboard their Reichel/Pugh-designed 50’ racer Staghound. David Clark’s ULDB 70 Grand Illusion with Reichel/Pugh-designed keel and rudder appendages was 2nd in ORR Division. Grand Illusion won the Transpac overall in 2015. 
Cowes, Isle of Wight (August 17, 2019) – Mark Rijkse’s Reichel/Pugh-designed GP42 42° South (ex-Seawonder 007) shone brightly at the 2019 COWES WEEK, scoring four bullets in six races to win Class IRC 0, winning the prestigious Brittania Cup and New York Yacht Club Challenge Cup in two of those races. 
A piece of Dr. Skip Sheldon’s legacy lives on as his 66’ racer-cruiser Zaraffa continues to win with the grateful U.S. Naval Academy Varsity Offshore Sailing Team.
As the 50th Transpac kicks off this week Reichel/Pugh wishes all owners and crews a safe race, especially our very own Naval Architect and Structural Engineer David Oliver who is navigator aboard the 60’ Good Call.
Porto Cervo (June 8, 2019) – The 12th edition of the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta was organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in the waters of Porto Cervo, Sardinia and hosted 20 boats ranging from 25 to 52 metres in length. Reichel/Pugh-designed 100’ Magic Carpet3, owned by YCCS member Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, won Class “A” ahead of the 33-metre Inoui and the Wally 107 Open Season with a perfect scoreline across all three races. The Silver Jubilee Cup, assigned to the top yacht over 30 metres with an interior cruising set-up and in the division with the most competitors, also went to the WallyCento Magic Carpet3. Jim Pugh was apart of the racing team.
Ensenada, Mexico (April 28, 2019) – Congratulations to all competitors in the 72nd annual Newport to Ensenada (125nm). On the heels of its 2018 Sydney-Hobart victory, the Australian-based Reichel/Pugh 66’ Canting Keel Mini Maxi ALIVE (formerly Black Jack & Stark Raving Mad) earned the NOSA Trophy for overall best elapsed time, the Amigo Trophy awarded to a first-time skipper and the Lahaina Yacht Club Trophy for best elapsed time all PHRF. Congratulations to owner Phillip Turner, skipper Duncan Hine and the entire Alive Yachting team. 
RP100 Black Jack is Winner of 2019 Brisbane to Gladstone Line Honors and Four Cities Cup for best performing yacht.
St. Barths (April 21, 2019) — Launched in 2010, Les Voiles de St. Barth is an event created specifically to keep the long, colorful history of racing on the island vibrant — building on Loulou’s Regatta back in the 1970’s with its 100 sailboats to the Transat AG2R, the Route du Rose, and the St Barth Bucket Regatta. The 2019 regatta marked the 10th anniversary and fielded scores of teams across nine classes, despite the remaining traces of hurricane Irma, which ravaged the island in September 2017.