The finish of the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race showed that sailing can be exciting, dramatic and that even protests can provide media intrigue and extra coverage.
Anthony Bell and the crew of his 100ft maxi yacht – Investec Loyal have been declared the line honours victors in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
At the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2011 prizegiving, on Constitution Dock, CYCA Commodore Garry Linacre, Lord Mayor of Hobart, Damon Thomas, and Patrick Boutellier of Rolex Australia presented Anthony Bell with the JH Illingworth Trophy and a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece for the line honours victory.
Bell said:
“It is the long way around in some ways. It is very relieving to get to this point. There are rules in every sport and, while it wasn’t ideal to go through this, I think that ultimately it gets beyond any question and whatever those questions that were asked have been properly answered.”
The final margin was just 3 minutes 8 seconds and Bell said:
“We have come second to Wild Oats quite a lot. We came second last year to them and we kept coming second to them at Hamilton Island. It is an against-the-odds victory for us….I am still waiting for one of my crew members to wake me up and say you’re on watch!
The buzz is made best by the fact that Wild Oats XI is such a fantastic, professionally-run campaign by the Oatley family and, to have them compete so fiercely, it accelerated and heightened the value to us to go down the wire against a raceboat team like that. They are the benchmark of supermaxi racing, not just in Australia, but in the world.”
The race committee protested the win, suggesting that a conversation between the tactician on board Investec Loyal and a media helicopter about the opposition’s sails could be seen as ‘external assistance’ – breaking rule 41.
Bells explanation in the media statement was a great opportunity to give some free publicity to North Sails.
