Two brand new FIRST 40s, TWO TRUE and WICKED took the two first places overall under IRC division in the 628 miles Sydney-Hobart Race.
They completed the course (between Sydney Harbour and Hobart in Tasmania) in 3 days and 23 hours. Only 20 minutes separated these two FIRST 40s on the finish line. They finished two hours ahead of their third rival on corrected time. TWO TRUE also came first overall in the ORCI class.
The FIRST 40 takes over therefore from the prestigious FIRST 40.7, which had taken the honours in 2003 on the same course.
It is a real historic occasion to see two identical FIRST 40s taking the first two places in a competition that brings together such a varied fleet from 100 foot super-maxis to 33 foot sailing yachts in this 64th Sydney-Hobart Race.
Andrew Saies first comments :
“Great boat, this new BENETEAU. It just jumps out of the water, jumped a bit too hard in the last day or so in those big short waves. It's a fast boat, we had belief that this boat was going to rate well and do okay in this event, if the weather conditions allowed a small boat event."
In the Cruising category, the OCEANIS 50 HOLY COW claimed first place ahead of another BENETEAU, the OCEANIS 37 LIVEWIRE.
Well done to all these crews, and you will find full details on the BENETEAU YACHT CLUB site very shortly.
Results for 2009
Over all IRC Results for BENETEAU
1st - Two True - First 40 - Andrew Saies
2nd - Wicked - First 40 - Mark Welsh
9th - Imagination - First 47.7 - Robin Hawthorn
ORCI Over all for BENETEAU
1st - Two True - First 40 - Andrew Saies
2nd - Wicked - First 40 - Mark Welsh
15th - Paca - First 40 - Philippe Mengual
18th - Chancellor - First 40.7 - Ted Tooher
19th - Auch - First 44.7 - David Bean
Cruising Division for BENETEAU
1st - Holy Cow - Oceanis 50 - John Clinton
2nd - Livewire - Oceanis 37 - David Pring