Sydney To Hobart News Feed

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race came to a conclusion on January 1 at the Royal Club of Tasmania, where the Official Prize Giving took place.

The 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was notable for an unexpected winner of the coveted line honours trophy, a worthy overall winner and a slow passage home for the smaller boats.

Three of the Langman family shared the honour of sailing the last boat to the finish line in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, crossing the finish line at 4.48pm late this afternoon in the time of five days 3hr 48min 22sec.

The skipper of Natelle Two, Hobart's Laura Roper, was glad to have the support of her father and brother as part of her crew in her first Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The race was on for the two Western Australian entrants in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race yesterday as they were racing neck and neck and only to finish less than a minute apart from each other.

It was a mixed race for the crew of the Volvo 60 Merit, which arrived in Hobart safe and jubilant after a special Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race dedication in Sydney, as the crew decided to make the race a tribute to noted Tasmanian maritime figure and avid sailor Nick Wells, who died in November.

Arriving within minutes of five other yachts, Beneteau 45 Balance finished this year's Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race after a contest full of patchy weather.

As Greg Zyner and Morgan Rogers, respectively the owners of the yachts Copernicus and Wave Sweeper, threw the mooring lines to Constitution Dock well-wishers between 6.50am and 7.50am this morning in Hobart, 12 yachts still remained at sea in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

With the wind fading for the smaller boats, so this morning (local time) Stephen Ainsworth's Loki was announced the handicap winner of the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Round the world yachtswoman Jessica Watson and her crew of "juniors" aboard the Sydney 38 Ella Bache crossed the finish line in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race at 3.12pm today - the youngest-ever crew to compete in the race - all are under 21.

It took Sydney-based Stephen Ainsworth 14 years to claim the elusive Tattersall's Cup, and as he put it so succinctly, "it was a big box to tick".

A windless night off the Tasmanian south-east coast destroyed all prospects of Roger Hickman's Wild Rose reaching Hobart in time to displace Stephen Ainsworth's Loki as the overall winner of the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

This morning at 8.40am Stephen Ainsworth's Loki was declared the overall winner of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the race he has been trying to win for 13 years finally coming to fruition on his 14th try.

With the line honours podium decided in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, focus now shifts to the handicap race under IRC for the Tattersall's Cup.

Perhaps the most popular arrival in Hobart today was Tony Lyall's Cougar II, the first Tasmanian boat to finish the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Throughout the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, two yachts names have kept appearing at the top of the overall standings - Loki and Wild Rose - and now it looks likely the two will replicate the thrilling line honours battle between Investec Loyal and Wild Oats XI, as they battle to win the Tattersall's Cup.

Following a three hour hearing at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania before the International Jury, the Race Committee's protest against Investec Loyal was dismissed and Anthony Bell and the crew of his 100ft maxi were finally declared the line honours victors in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Investec Loyal is now officially the line honours winner of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race after the protest against her by the Race Committee was dismissed by the International Jury.

The Sydney yacht Victoire is the new leader on handicap in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race as attention today turns to the overall winner of the race and also to the protest room for a decision on whether Investec Loyal's line honours win yesterday stands.

While the battle for line honours has moved from the water to the committee room, at sea the race for the coveted Tattersall's Cup, awarded to the handicap winner, is still very much a contest between crews, boats and the elements. And the elements, or more precisely, the wind on the Derwent River may yet be the final arbiter.