It was the space of just six nautical miles that made the difference when it came to Bob Oatley’s supermaxi, Wild Oats XI, claiming a historic eighth line honours in the 628 nautical mile Rolex Sydney Hobart race. Having carefully analysed the weather prognosis for the race, skipper Mark Richards, Spanish navigator Juan Vila, and tactician Iain Murray, pre-determined a point in Bass Strait that they were convinced the yacht must reach as quickly as possible if they were to avoid being trapped by a forecast pocket of little or no wind. When they reached that point two days ago, Wild Oats had come from behind in very light winds and was then leading their powerful American challenger for…

70th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race – ‘The Old Girl’ proves she’s still got great legs … By Grand Prix ocean racing standards she’s an old girl, and there’s no denying she’s had a few makeovers during the past decade, but Bob Oatley’s 30-metre long supermaxi, Wild Oats XI, was leaving no doubt today that when it came to speed she’s still got great legs. The aging beauty was this afternoon leading the entire fleet across Bass Strait in the 70th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart race. At the time her strongest challenger, the new American supermaxi, Comanche (owned by Jim and Kristy Clark and skippered by Ken Read), was six miles back in Wild Oats’ wake. This year ‘The…

If you are into sailing in Australia you will probably know his name, and you will no doubt have seen his images hundreds of times. However, for the majority of sailors, putting a face to his name would be an impossible task. The man is Andrea Francolini, and as you might guess, the 43-year-old is of Italian descent.  He was born in Milan, but after 14 years of being in Australia he now considers himself to be as much an Aussie as he is an Italian. Today he stands tall in the world of yachting photographers. He has more than 140 cover shots to his credit in Australia, and for the past three years he has been a finalist in…