Rolex Sydney Hobart: Tp 52 Celestial in triumph, Tattersall Cup is hers

Now it’s official, Australian Sam Haynes’ Tp 52 Celestial has got its hands on the iconic Tattersall Cup, the trophy that awards the overall victory of the Rolex Sydney Hobart, awarded to the first boat in the IRC overall standings.

For Haynes and her crew, this is a very valuable achievement, not only because of the harsh weather conditions in which it matured, but also because in some ways it is a rematch after the 2021 edition-Celestial had been penalized for an infraction and finished second despite the fact that the compensated times in 2021 had already placed her first. The owner had been on the verge of abandoning his sailing-related sports project, but in the end he decided to go ahead, and today came the overall victory of the Sydney Hobart.

Rolex Sydney Hobart, Celestial’s rematch.

It’s hard to hold back the enthusiasm for Sam Haynes, who on the docks in Hobart when the result is in, let loose: “I’m shouting loudly, I’m so proud. It means this achievement, everything, especially after last year. This year we put together a focused program to get to win this regatta, and it’s a bit of a life-changing achievement. How hard it was to wait for the official news, but we know that this boat is a real weapon and still competes offshore with the best and newest 52s in the world.” These are the words of an owner who can hardly contain his excitement at this achievement, achieved with a TP 52 that is now more than 10 years old and has bent the competition of 11 other TPs, some of them much newer in design and conception.

Rolex Sydney Hobart, the dominance of the Tp 52s.

We anticipated it on the eve of the event: with strong winds at the carrying gaits, the Tp 52s would give the maxi 100s a run for their money in compensated time. And so it was, with 3 Tp on the three steps of the podium. behind Celestial came Matt Donald’s Gweilo and Max Klink’s Caro. Before them was recorded in past editions the historic hat trick of Ichi Ban, confirming that the Sydney Hobart is a race that particularly likes TPs, which, despite their extreme racer shapes, are particularly suitable boats for offshore sailing even in very harsh conditions.