Flying Fish are on a winning streak down under

Flying Fish Arctos – 2nd overall in PHS in the 2009 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht race

A fantastic result for Flying Fish Arctos and Team Fish who were first over the line in PHS 2, finishing second in division on corrected time and second overall in the PHS class.

In what is being billed one of the most “mentally tough” Hobart races in years, due to the constantly changing conditions and the slowness of the race up the Derwent river, skipper Andy Fairclough and Team Fish were pipped to first place after corrected time adjustments by Australian Skipper Peter Rodgers on his yacht She.

The Flying Fish crew battled for four days, 12 hours, 21 minutes and 43 seconds to cross the finish line in Hobart. Congratulations to them all on an excellent result.

Flying Fish Arctos Rolex Sydney To Hobart 2009 team:    Andy Fairclough (Skipper), John Naylor (First Mate), Duncan Macalister (Shipwright/Helmsman), Lawrence Burgin (Shipwright/Chef), Jean Cane (Helm) Edward Simpson (Bowman), Boris Zange (Mast), Alexander van Drunen Little (Navigator/Pit), Aslan Morhayim (Trimmer), Kay Morrison (Navigator/Pit), Simon Grier-Jones (Mast),  Ben Whinnett (Bowman) and Matthew Soloman (Main)

This is the second year running that Team Fish has finished second in the Sydney Hobart Race - although the first time they have experienced the glory of being first over the line. 

Skipper Andy Fairclough put this great result down to "a combination of great preparation, excellent navigation (that found Arctos seventy miles offshore in up to five knots of south setting current), tireless hard work by the whole crew and an endless supply of superb food and fresh coffee supplied in all weather in large dogbowls, by on board chef and shipwright and veteran of four Flying Fish Sydney to Hobart Campaigns - Aussie Laurence - many thanks to him."

Skipper's report on the race.

This year's race was a tough one to figure out because of the very changeable conditions. Our pre race planning and boat prep included some navigational vectoring by ‘Tide Tech’ which suggested we should focus on finding the core of the East Australia Current which appeared to be running well and in the right direction!

We followed the waypoint planning to the letter and entered the Bass Strait in 18th position on scratch. The race was hard work and physically demanding with a lot of upwind and a lot of changeable weather which caused a lot of nightime sail changes! The crew were superb and we arrived in Hobart without any breakages at all.

There is nothing quite like good food to keep morale high on a long and difficult ocean race. Morale was very high on Flying Fish Arctos and the food was plentiful and excellent. We were rewarded on the fourth day with a dream run down the Tasmanian coast with our spinnaker hauling us along at up to 12 knots.

On rounding the fabulous organ pipes at Tasman Island we were certain we had won our class overall.  Then the Derwent River lived up to its worst expectations and we were becalmed for seven hours! Eventually finishing in Hobart at 1.30 AM.

The fabulous Tassie welcome even in the middle of the night made up for the long drift and we celebrated with beer!

Team Fish are already talking about the race strategy for the 2010 campaign and Laurence is upgrading his menu again!

Andrew Saies’ new boat Two True, became just the fourth South Australian yacht to win the Rolex Sydney Yacht Race overall, but the win did not come without a long wait and plenty of angst.

 “This is an iconic yacht race and every yachtie in Australia wants to win it. I feel proud to have achieved this once in a lifetime goal.”  

Full list of Sydney Hobart race results for 2009 >>

Join Team Fish for the Sydney Hobart 2010 campaign >>

RORC yacht racing with Flying Fish in 2010 >>