Hobart, Australia — After winning line honors in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race aboard the supermaxi Master Lock Comanche on Sunday, co-skippers Matt Allen and James Mayo declared they had achieved “redemption” for last year’s foiled campaign.
The victory by Master Lock Comanche in the 80th edition of the 628-nautical-mile race was a fitting recompense after their early withdrawal last year, when the boat was forced out by a torn mainsail.
Twelve months on, her co-skippers and crew were awarded the John H. Illingworth Trophy for line honors, given to the first boat across the line.
Their charter of the world-renowned 100-footer — which Mayo likened to a “racehorse” — runs through to early next year, and with one failed bid already on the books, this year was an opportunity they were determined to seize.
Allen, who has won the Sydney Hobart three times on corrected time aboard Ichi Ban (2017, 2019 and 2021), said on the Hobart docks: “Last year was very frustrating. James and I decided we’d only come back if we both wanted to do it 100 per cent. Last year was unfinished business. We wanted redemption.”
Mayo agreed, explaining how last year’s disappointment laid the foundation for Sunday’s win.
“I knew he was the guy I needed to work with,” Mayo said of Allen. “We had a coffee, a partnership developed, and despite how brutal last year was, we came back to finish the job.
“The crew are incredible. You can’t achieve great sporting results without a great team.
“This is one of the most iconic boats in the world, and she’s like a racehorse … she talks to you. You look after her and she’ll get you there.”
The win was the first for Allen and Mayo aboard Master Lock Comanche, but it marked the 100-footer’s fifth, after wins under other campaigns in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022.
Whether Allen and Mayo return to race in the Sydney Hobart next year aboard Master Lock Comanche remains uncertain.
Matt Allen and James Mayo celebrate their boat’s win (Steve Bell / Getty Images)
“You never say never,” said Allen, who vowed to celebrate the win with scallops and meat pies — and a few drinks. “We set a goal and achieved it. It’s been an incredible partnership, but you never know what the future holds.
“We’ll sit down, probably over a beer, and work out what comes next. We’ll enjoy the moment and think about it (whether to extend the charter) in a couple of days.”
Master Lock Comanche’s win was one for the ages as Saturday provided a menu full of drama, action and suspense. To clinch it, she had to reclaim a race lead that was once more than seven nautical miles but was lost in the morning’s light winds, and then had fend off challenges from two other 100-footers, LawConnect and HSK Scallywag, the latter at one point taking the lead.
And then there was the ever-present but doggedly impressive U.S. entry Lucky, an 88-footer from the New York Yacht Club.
However, once Master Lock Comanche had secured a six-nautical-mile lead over the final 50 miles down the Tasmanian coast, she was able to unleash her speed for the last 11 miles up the River Derwent in 15-knot northeasterly winds.
The sight of Master Lock Comanche charging upriver at 20 to 25 knots in a setting summer sun — carrying her mainsail and a large asymmetric spinnaker suited to the downwind conditions, with a sizeable spectator fleet surrounding her — was something to behold.
(Steve Bell/Getty Images)
“We had a great lead during the race, but it evaporated and we effectively had a restart,” said Allen. “We’ve never seen anything like that in the Sydney Hobart, where all the boats were so close at that point. To win it after that makes it even more special.”
Master Lock Comanche finished at 6:03:36 p.m. (AEDT) in an official time of 2 days and 5 hours, 3mins 36secs, outside her race record of 1 day NS 9 hours, 15mins 24s set in 2017.
In second position was the Christian Beck-owned and skippered LawConnect, the 2023 and 2024 line honors winner with Australian Olympic swimming star Ian Thorpe aboard, in 2 days and 5 hours, 3mins 36s. In third was Hong Kong entry HSK Scallywag, skippered by David Witt, in 2 days and 6 hours, 14mins; then Lucky, owned and skippered by American Bryon Ehrhart, as the fourth finisher in 2 days and 6 hours, 34mins.
As for the Tattersall Cup, awarded to the overall winner on corrected time and regarded as the most prestigious, its winner will be revealed as the remainder of the fleet that has been reduced by numerous retirements since Friday’s start continues to arrive in Hobart.
