The 64th Rolex Sydney Hobart has been a milestone one with a high-quality fleet of 100 boats including eleven overseas entries, an unexpectedly close line honours battle at the head of the fleet between the maxis Wild Oats XI and Skandia and four of the sensationally fast downwind TP52s filling the first four placings overall on handicap.

Bob Oatley's canting-keeled design Reichel/Pugh 98 Wild Oats XI took line honours for a record fourth-successive year after trailing Grant Wharington's Don Jones-designed canting-keeled Skandia for most of the race. While the two maxis slowed in lighter winds along the Tasmanian coast to be denied the course record, the TP52s hardly faltered and finished within five hours of them. Bob Steel's Quest won the race's major trophy the Tattersall's Cup for the overall winner on IRC corrected time, from Alan Whiteley's Cougar II. Both are Farr designs. Graeme Wood's Judel/Vrolijk-designed Wot Now was third and Syd Fischer's Farr-designed TP52 Ragamuffin fourth.

The two brand new Reichel/Pugh designs in the race also enjoyed the hard-running conditions with Alan Brierty's R/P 62 Limit placing fifth and Stephen Ainsworth's R/P 63 Loki eighth overall on IRC. Both are exciting boats, featuring the latest rig and sail-making technology, and their results were highly promising considering the Rolex Sydney Hobart was their very first offshore race.

As always, while the boats were impressive the people manning them were even more so and provided the most touching moments during the prize-giving ceremony at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania today, which was attended by His Excellency Peter Underwood, Governor of Tasmania, and Michael Aird MLC, representing the Premier of Tasmania, along with other distinguished guests from the organising clubs and the event supporters. Bob Steel, who won the race in 2002 with a previous Quest, was ready for the reminder at the ceremony that he had thrown the watch he was wearing at the time into the Derwent River when he accepted the Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece that goes to the winning yacht. Asked would he do the same with Rolex Yacht-Master he had won on that occasion, he pulled out an old watch from his pocket and theatrically threw it into the crowd.

Overall Results for the 64th Rolex Sydney Hobart are as follows:

Line Honours
Wild Oats XI (Maxi 30m, NSW) – Robert Oatley, Elapsed Time 01:20:34:14

IRC OVERALL 
1st   Quest, (Transpac 52, NSW), Robert Steel – Winner of the George Adam Tattersall’s Cup – Elapsed Time 02:01:00:37, Corrected Time: 02:17:43:11
2nd  Cougar II (Transpac 52, VIC), Alan Whitely
3rd  Wot Now (Judel Vrolijk 52), Graeme Wood

IRC Division 0
1st  Quantum Racing (Cookson 50, NSW), Ray Roberts
2nd Ichi Ban (Jones 70, NSW) Matt Allen,
3rd  Black Jack (Reichel Pugh 66, QLD), Peter Harburg

IRC Division 1
1st   Quest (Transpac 52, NSW), Robert Steel
2nd  Cougar II (Transpac 52, VIC), Alan Whitely
3rd  Wot Now (Judel Vrolijk 52, NSW), Graeme Wood

IRC Division 2
1st  Ragtime*, (Spencer 65, USA), Chris Welsh
2nd Chutzpah, (IRC40, VIC), Bruce Taylor, VIC
3rd  Wedgetail, (Welbourn 42, QLD), Bill Wild
* Redress granted: 1 hr 55 minutes

IRC Division 3
1st   Tow Truck, (Ker 11.3, NSW), Anthony Paterson
2nd  AFR Midnight Rambler (Farr 40 modified, NSW) Ed Psaltis & Bob Thomas
3rd  True North (Beneteau First 47, SA) Andrew Saies, SA

IRC Division 4
1st   Winsome (S & S 41, The Netherlands) Harry J Heijst
2nd  Ray White Spirit of Koomooloo (S&S 49, QLD) Mike Freebairn
3rd  Pinta–M (S&S 41, The Netherlands) Atse Blei

PHS Division - Overall
1st  Telcoinabox Merit* (Volvo 60, QLD), Leo Rodriguez & Ian Bishop, QLD
2nd Getaway-Sailing.com (Volvo 60, NSW) Peter Goldsworthy
3rd  Pirelli (Farr 65, NSW), Martin James, skippered by Les Goodridge
* Redress granted: 18 hrs

PHS Division 1
1st  Telcoinabox Merit* (Volvo 60, QLD), Leo Rodriguez & Ian Bishop, QLD
2nd Getaway-Sailing.com (Volvo 60, NSW) Peter Goldsworthy
3rd  Pirelli (Farr 65, NSW), Martin James, skippered by Les Goodridge
* Redress granted: 18 hrs

PHS Division 2  
1st  Lloyds Brokers - Too Impetuous (Holland 43, QLD) Rudy Weber
2nd  Flying Fish Arctos  (Radford 16.4,NSW), James Dobie & Andy Fairclough
3rd  CHorse  (Cavalier 350 SL, NSW) John Smith     
      
Sydney 38 Division
1st   Morris Finance Cinquante, Ian Murray, VIC
2nd  The SubZero Goat, Clayton/Foye/Peckman/Gordon, NSW
3rd   Eleni, Tony Levett, NSW
       
Cruising Division
1st   Pippin (Farr 37, QLD), Roger Sayers
2nd  Charlie's Dream (Bluewater 450, QLD), Peter Lewis, QLD