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Yachts from near and far ready for final hit-out before Rolex Sydney Hobart

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  • 04 Dec, 2025 10:36:00 AM
Yachts from near and far ready for final hit-out before Rolex Sydney Hobart

Yachts from near and far ready for final hit-out before Rolex Sydney Hobart

The penultimate Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore (ACSBWPS) race to the 80th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, is almost here. A fleet of 72 yachts will cross the start line of the Cabbage Tree Island Race at 1700 hours on Friday 5 December. This race often draws interstate and international entrants with many crews using it as their compulsory qualifier for the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

This overview of the 2025 ACSBWPS Cabbage Tree Island Race fleet will explore which yachts have the potential to rise to the top, who has travelled from near and far for this 172-nautical-mile challenge, and what insights the results may offer ahead of the 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Cabbage Tree Island Race Fleet in numbers 

Seventy-two yachts will embark on the 172 nautical mile race from Sydney Harbour to Cabbage Tree Island (north of Port Stephens) and back. That’s 12 more yachts than the 60 starters in 2024. 

The fleet is comprised of 52 yachts from New South Wales, six from Queensland, four from Victoria, one from Tasmania and three from Western Australia. Of the five international entrants, two are from New Zealand, one from Hong Kong, one from the USA and one from Germany.

 The start of the 2024 ACSBWPS Cabbage Tree Island Race.  Image: Andrea Francolini

 Some more ACSBWPS Cabbage Tree Island Race stats: 

  • Defending Overall winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart, CYCA Commodore Sam Haynes’ Volvo 70 Celestial V70, will be on the start line. 
  • +50% are 45-foot and under.  
  • There are 11 Double Handed entries.  

URM Group leads the way  

Anthony and David Johnston’s Reichel/ Pugh Maxi 72 URM Group holds a two-point lead in the ACSBWPS Overall standings with five points. The yacht was the Overall winner of the 2023/24 ACSBWPS. In second place sits the 2024/25 ACSBWPS Overall winner – Seb Bohm’s JV TP52 Smuggler on seven points. Just one point behind, in third place, is Rob Appleyard’s Reichel Pugh 69 Moneypenny. 

URM Group making its way out of Sydney Heads.  Image: CYCA/Ashley Dart

Jiang Lin’s JPK 1030 Min River currently leads both Double-Handed IRC and the Wild Rose Pointscore (which requires a minimum of 25 per-cent women crew for the season). Andrew Kearnan’s TP52 KOA leads IRC Corinthian and Christopher Taylor’s Pogo 40 Le Tiroflan is first on PHS Overall.

Min River has had another stellar offshore sailing season.  Image: CYCA/Ashley Dart

Chris and Lachlan Dare live up to their yacht’s name 

The Tasmanian entry, the GP42 Ambition (formerly known as Enterprise Next Generation), campaigned by the father-and-son Chris and Lachlan Dare, will feature an interstate crew from Victoria, Tasmania and Sydney. 

The yacht, which represents Derwent Sailing Squadron, has been based in Tasmania for the second half of the year in preparation for the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

The relocation was a “strategic decision” to log longer ocean miles and gain a deeper understanding of Storm Bay, where a Rolex Sydney Hobart is often won or lost. 

 

Ambition racing in Tasmania.  Image: Fiondry Photography

Reflecting on their time sailing in Tasmanian waters, Chris said: “We’ve sailed in everything from two to 45 knots. We’ve been around lots of corners, and we’ve done more sail changes in two months than we’d do in a year.” 

Dare is eager to see how the team’s hard work pays off when they line up against yachts of similar size and speed in the Cabbage Tree Island Race, their final major test before the Rolex Sydney Hobart.  

“We’re very happy with what we’ve done there [Tasmania],” Dare said. “But equally looking forward to racing against a bigger fleet and a number of boats that are in our similar size range for the Hobart.”  

Dare will keep an eye out for fellow 42-footers, Sean Langman’s Reichel Pugh GP42 Back 2 Black and Edward Cox’s Ker 40 Minerva. The ACSBWPS Cabbage Tree Island Race will be Back 2 Black’s first offshore race in Australian waters since it arrived by container ship following the Admiral’s Cup and Rolex Fastnet Race in the UK and France earlier this year. 

Wyuna crew keen to keep learning 

Three Western Australian yachts will line up for the Cabbage Tree Island Race:  

Rob Appleyard’s Moneypenny, Daniel Cannon’s Corby 49 Happy Wanderer and Hilary Arthure’s Wyuna. Arthure is one of 13 women owner/skippers competing in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart. 

Arthure last raced her Sun Fast 3600 Wyuna in the ACSBWPS Cabbage Tree Island Race in 2023 (as well as the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart) and views this weekend’s race as the perfect practice round for her mostly Perth-based crew. Seven of her eight Rolex Sydney Hobart crew members will be on board.

Wyuna sailing out of Sydney Heads in the ACSBWPS Bird Island Race.  Image: CYCA/Ashley Dart

“Our goal is to complete the race as quickly as possible (most have planes to catch on Sunday night),” Arthure said. “But also, to feel that we raced well, made good decisions and sail choices, and did well as a team.” 

Most importantly, the crew will also trial some new menu options ahead of the Hobart. 

This will be Wyuna’s second ACSBWPS race of the season. Its first was the Bird Island Race in November, after the yacht travelled 4,300 kilometres from Perth-Sydney via truck. 

Of the ACSBWPS Bird Island Race, Arthure said: “Whilst we didn’t trouble the leaders, we learnt a huge amount and broke some things that needed to be broken. These are new waters for most of the crew and the sea state is different. This is not an excuse, but there is LOTS to learn.” 

The forecast from afar 

For Wyuna, the ideal forecast is simple: “The more breeze the better!”  

Wyuna’s perfect conditions are 20–25 knots, suitable for a yacht like Wyuna with a broad stern and twin rudders. 

According to Chris Dare, the current outlook “looks like a long beat and a long run, possibly with a bit of mixed breeze towards the end. Depending on the timing, a southerly change may come up the coast.” 

If the weather falls their way, the Ambition crew hopes for “a nice fast run home from Cabbage Tree on Saturday with reasonably strong wind to push us along.” 

The Australian Maxi Championship begins  

Get ready for five days of pure adrenaline on Sydney Harbour, as the 2025 Australian Maxi Championship returns, featuring the fiercest fleet of Maxi and Mini Maxi yachts in the Southern Hemisphere. 

The fleet features maxis Master Lock Comanche, LawConnect, SHK Scallywag and Wild Thing 100, and mini maxis Moneypenny, David Gotze Reichel Pugh 63 No Limit and URM Group. The Reichel Pugh 66 Wild Oats X, skippered by Mark Richards, will join the action for the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge on the Tuesday. 

Wild Thing 100 en route to the finish line of the 2024 SOLAS Big Boat Challenge.  Image: Andrea Francolini

The Championship kicks off with the ACSBWPS Cabbage Tree Island Race.  

On Sunday 7 December, the fleet will head offshore again for two days of intense passage racing. 

The climax comes on Tuesday 9 December with the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge, as the yachts go head-to-head in a windward leeward sprint format on Sydney Harbour. 

How to follow the race 

Race News Updates 
Throughout the race, the website will be updated with photo galleries, articles and videos, including content sent in from competing yachts. 

Live Stream 
Watch the start of Race 5 of the 2025/2026 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore – the Cabbage Tree Island Race. The show is commented by Gordon Bray, Olivia Price and Peter Shipway and is streamed on this website and on CYCATV. 

Yacht Tracker 
The Tracker and Standings pages are the most visited during the race and for good reason. They allow fans, families, and competitors to follow the fleet in real time, track individual yachts, and see how each boat is performing against its rivals. 

  

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