2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Double Handed sailors in it to win it
by Greta Quealy | RSHYR Media 21 Dec 18:16 NZDT
26 December 2024
Martin and John Cross (father and son), ready for the 2024 RSHYR © RSHYR / Ashley Dart
Second time's the charm for father and son duo Martin and John Cross, who this year will be racing the Jeanneau Sunfast 3300 Transcendence Rudy Project for their second time in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race (RSHYR) Double Handed division.
They will join 22 other Double Handed competitors in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 628 nautical mile race, which starts in Sydney Harbour on December 26.
Martin and John Cross first raced Double Handed in the 2022 race, where they placed seventh in the Double Handed division.
"We're not new to this event which is nice," Martin said. "I would say we're now much stronger as father and son than had we not gone through this experience."
This year, their experience and persistence showed on the water. They were one of three finishers in the 2024 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race in March, where majority of competitors retired due to light winds. But not Martin and John, who kept racing just in time for some wind to appear.
And on Friday, they beat the Gizmo, Fika and Sailor Moon crew in an onshore Double Handed crew challenge. They are officially the quickest crew at donning wet weather gear without spilling tea, waking up a co-skipper who has forgotten it's their watch and packing a spinnaker!
The two look forward to putting these skills to the test on the water come Boxing Day.
Well-known offshore sailor Wendy Tuck, like the Transcendence Rudy Project crew, also raced in the Double Handed division in the 2022 RSHYR. This time round she has a different co-skipper and different boat. Tuck will be sailing with co-skipper Meg Niblett on the Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600 Gizmo.
The duo first met when Tuck examined Niblett for her Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Yachtmaster exam in 2020. Five years later, they are taking on one of the most challenging offshore races in the world together, and so far, so good.
When asked what she most enjoys about sailing with the 25-year-old sailor, Tuck said: "Now having sailed a little bit with her, it's her enthusiasm, her get up and do everything attitude. Her tenacity as well, which I see a lot of myself in her when I was that age, which is quite cool."
Although Tuck and Niblett are in it to win it, they're also wary that they've only had Gizmo for just over a month.
"We're very new to the boat and we haven't been doing too much sailing on it yet," Niblett said.
"We will be learning on the way down [to Hobart] as well, so [we aim to] just sail as best we can. I think getting to Hobart with a healthy crew and a healthy boat, that's a win."
Gizmo is one of a record three all-female crews in the Double Handed division, while also being eligible to win the race Overall. They are joined by Saskia Groen-In't-Woud and Maud Demazure and on the Nautor Swan 38, Celeste and mother and daughter duo Annette Hesselmans and Sophie Snijders on the Najad 1490 Fika.
This marks Snijders' first Sydney Hobart and nerves are high. But she knows that as soon as they turn right out of the Heads come Boxing Day, it'll be business as usual.
"I'm feeling a little overwhelmed to be honest," Snijders said. "But I know that once we get going, it should be a good time.
"I suppose the reason why I said yes to these crazy races (this and the 2025 Melbourne Osaka Double Handed Yacht Race) was the sense of adventure, the challenge and to be able to achieve something really cool and accomplish something amazing with my mother."
After the Sydney Hobart, they will then begin their preparations for the 2025 Melbourne Osaka Cup, of which the Hobart is their qualifying race.
Christopher Canty and Shona Forsyth on the Northshore 370 Sailor Moon are also competing in both of these epic offshore adventures and offshore sailing comes naturally to Canty, who circumnavigated the world in 2017 and 2018.
The Pittwater-based duo have established a good sailing dynamic. When asked if Canty bosses her around, Forsyth laughed and said: "No, he doesn't boss me around."
As to whether 2024 is the year a Double Handed yacht can win the race overall, it's all dependent on the weather.
Martin and John Cross and are, pardon the pun, crossing their fingers for a power reach to Hobart.
"The best conditions for us would be where the big boats get slowed up and have trouble getting through the front," Martin said. "We're still powering on behind them while they're hopefully parked, waiting to get through the front. By the time we get there, we transition through the front better.
"I suspect if it is a small boat race, there's a good chance we'll have a Double Handed winner."
Watch this space.
Hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race starts at 1300hrs on Boxing Day on Sydney Harbour from four start lines. The fleet currently stands at 105 (including 23 double handed entries), following the withdrawal of Ariel.