While the TP 52s in general and Sam Haynes’ Celestial (NSW) in particular have fulfilled expectations by dominating the overall top positions for the supreme Corrected Time champions’ Tattersall Cup in the Sydney-Hobart Race, for three hours in Hobart last night and this morning the race-finished leader was being posted as Sean Langman’s RP69 Moneypenny, which continues firmly and permanently in place on the leaderboard as winner of IRC Division 0, comfortably ahead of some seriously heavy metal.
It was just seven weeks ago that ex-Pat Howth sailor and multiple Hobart Race success achiever Gordon Maguire joined the strength on Moneypenny. Maguire was overall winner of the 2021 race as Sailing Master on Matt Allen’s TP 52 Ichi Ban after the notably by-the-book Organising Committee imposed small but crucial time penalties on the safety-rule-infringing Celestial, thereby adding a fifth overall win to the Irish helm’s unrivalled Sydney-Hobart record.
But as the 2022 race came up the agenda, the Maguire participation was unclear. After many years of success, Matt Allen was taking a break from the all-consuming involvement which the Big One to Hobart involves. Thus it was only in November that it emerged that Gordon Maguire had been seen around Moneypenny, a Reichel Pugh design of American build origins that was originally an RP65 but is now an RP69 through a stern-lengthening.
Like apparently everything to do with the charismatic Sean Langman, Moneypenny was very much work in progress, and in typical style Maguire threw himself into the optimizing challenge, with the only word received back in Howth being a laconic: “Never busier”.
The process seemed to continue afloat, for although Moneypenny was only so-so in the early stages of the Hibart Race, once they got down to the Big Boys’ Business offshore she began to move steadily up the rankings, and came up the Derwent in style this morning to finish at 08:13:43 hours and complete the 628 mile course comfortably within the two days, coming in close enough to Philip Turner’s higher-rated Reichel Pugh 66 Alive to take over the Class 0 overall lead – which Moneypenny has retained – while for three glorious hours she was tops overall on the leaderboard.
Gordon Maguire in Hobart – 2022’s Hobart Race with Moneypenny has provided “maybe the busiest seven weeks of his life”
Gordon Maguire has been involved in many campaigns involving various levels of hectic preparation, but it’s possible that the seven busiest weeks of his life have just concluded with this class win. That said, he is among the first to praise the perfection with which the TP 52s filled the bill of requirements for the 2022 Sydney-Hobart Race, with skilled owners and boat managers tuning their craft to get a rating which best suits the boat’s age and potential.
It’s a matter of tiny margins, and we saw it well illustrated back in 1987 when Jo Richardson optimised Stephen Fein’s Dubois 40 Full Pelt to become the all-beating Irish Independent, skippered by Richardson with Dun Laoghaire’s Tim Goodbody as lead helm to become the Fastnet Race overall winner and tops point scorer for Ireland’s Admiral Cup team.
CELESTIAL’S POPULAR OVERALL WIN
All the 40-footers in 1987 crossed the line in Plymouth together on a screaming run in a photo finish. But because Irish Independent rated that tiny fraction lower, she was overall winner by a matter of seconds. Equally today in Hobart, while the newest TP52 Caro (Max Klinck NZ, with Dun Laoghaire’s Cian Guilfoyle in the crew) may have narrowly been the first to finish, she wasn’t far enough ahead of Sam Haynes’ older lower-rated Celestial to save her time for what was to be the overall win for Celestial, if a claim for assistance given to a disabled boat by another competitors well down the fleet isn’t given disproportionate compensation.
The new Caro – with Dun Laoghaire’s Cian Guilfoyle in her crew – was the first TP52 to finish, but slips to 3rd overall in class and fleet on corrected time. Photo: Andrea Francolini/Rolex
Meanwhile, Caro didn’t save her time on Matt Donald and Christ Townsend’s (NSW) Gweilo either, but she stayed in front on CT of the American TP52 challenger Warrior Won (Chris Sheehan, with Don Street of Glandore’s grandson Dylan Vogel in the crew) in a finish which amounted to boat-for-boat racing.
ADRIENNE CAHALANE MAKES “MAJOR INPUT” ON SUNRISE SUCCESS
Still out on the racecourse, Tom Kneen’s Fastnet Race-winning Sunrise continues to lead Div 3, but with darkness coming down on Hobart, the 70 miles she still has to sail to the finish could be tricky as the winds can go all over the place. But for now, Tom is lavish in his praise for the input from Offaly-born tactician Adriennne Cahalane, doing her 30th Sydney-Hobart in probably the most comfortable boat she has ever sailed down the often rugged course. “Adrienne is invaluable for her contribution as we negotiate the fickle winds out of Storm Bay and working the tidal routing in order to spend the maximum time in positive current and flatter water”.
No fuss. Tom Kneen’s JPK 1180 Sunrise slips past the crucial turning mark to get clear of Sydney Harbour and start the long trek south to Hobart. Photo: Andrea Francolini/Rolex
LIMERICK’S CONDELL TAKES LEAD IN TWO-HANDERS
Another entry of serious Irish interest which has become better and better as the race progresses is Limerick’s Lee Condell sailing the 20-strong Two-Handed Division with Lincoln Dews in the Sun Fast 3300 Sun Fast Racing.
With 120 miles still to race, Lee Condell and Lincoln Dews lead the Two-Handed Divison
In the early stages they were showing 11th, but then they worked up to fourth, and then lo and behold in the next position check thy were on the podium in third place overall and today, with just 125 miles still to race though admittedly with the poke starting to go out of the wind, they’re first in class, with an estimated hour and 15 minutes in hand on the next boat. It’s those last 125 miles which are going to be the real test as the favourable wind patterns begin to collapse – our thoughts are with them.
Race Tracker here: https://rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker/
