Sydney Hobart Record - Nine Divisional wins for Bruce Taylor

6:37 AM Mon 29 Dec 2008 GMT

'Chutzpah south of the seaward mark - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2008' Crosbie Lorimer Click Here to view large photo

No sailor comes even close to Bruce Taylor's amazing record of consistency in the Sydney to Hobart race; Taylor has nine divisional wins from 28 starts.

This year he helmed his latest Chutzpah, a 40 foot Reichel Pugh flier built by Hart Marine and the sixth yacht of the same name.

'Winning divisions tells us that we sailed okay. It's a little buzz for us because we always want to do well in the Sydney to Hobart, but we are still looking for an overall victory' said Taylor dockside.

'But that is very much dependant on the weather system and over the years we've not been all that lucky.'

Chutzpah has come second and third in previous years, coming fourth overall in 2007. But Chutzpah has the impressive record of winning their division a record nine times.

Taylor continued 'This time we thought we could be okay, we thought the big boats might slow down up on the Tassie coast and that's certainly what it looked like would happen about four days before we left, also during the race.

'The soft spot seemed to move off shore a bit. The big boats didn't get it ... but we did. We parked for a couple of hours off Tasman Light and that was the race.

'One of the reasons why we have always stayed competitive is that we've got a great core of guys, particularly for ocean racing.

'We are all getting old, but I'm amazed at just how well it still works when you've got guys who've sailed together as a team in these sorts of races for close to 20 years and in a variety of boats.

'One of the things is that boats are getting a lot drier. As we get older we do(pause) appreciate that.

'Boats like Chutzpah, a down wind Reichel Pugh flier, are really fun boats to sail.

'Absolute fun boats - we wanted a big ocean skiff and that's exactly what Reichel Pugh gave us.

'It's hard work around the cans. We have a rating that makes it very hard for us, but get us out onto the ocean and we can hang onto the big boats.

'The Wedgetail guys are keeping us very honest; it was nip and tuck by the end of the Southport race.

'In that race, we just managed to get them at the end and here it was the same thing.

'We got them the first night; they absolutely brained us the second night, and then we managed to nail them down at the end.

'Now we have nine division wins. We'd have to think that if we had ten division wins we might be getting closer to an overall win!

'Another possible challenge ahead is the Transpac. She is such a great downwind boat, we are considering taking Chutzpah to Los Angeles to do the 2,200 nautical mile Transpac race to Hawaii in June 2008' concluded a very happy Bruce Taylor.

by Rob Kothe

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Sydney Hobart Record - Nine Divisional wins for Bruce Taylor

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