Rolex Sydney Hobart

Sydney Harbour to the Derwent — 628 nm through the Bass Strait

Sydney, Australia Hobart, Tasmania
70 boats 2 editions 628 nm 7 archetypes International event fleet · as of 2026-08-20
Kinship

Australia’s waters hold their own story.

Sydney Heads, the Tasman southerly, Storm Bay, the Derwent finish — the country page holds the broader picture.

 Hidden Shape

AEROSTREAM leads at 38.6% — a strong upwind bias at the front of the start line.

How the Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet clusters before the results arrive: the towering-scale AEROSTREAM family leads at 38.6%, with the large-scale AEROCORE at 24.3% and AEROFORCE third at 10.0% on the 628-mile track.
Character

Boxing Day. Six hundred and twenty-eight miles. Bass Strait between you and Hobart.

The Rolex Sydney Hobart is 628 nautical miles from Sydney Harbour to the Derwent River, through one of sailing’s most unpredictable bodies of water. The Bass Strait southerly buster can arrive at any hour, turning a summer race into a survival test where hull efficiency under storm loading and crew execution in degrading conditions separate the finishers from the retirements. The 1998 race defined a generation of offshore safety standards — five boats sank, six sailors died, only 44 of 115 starters finished in conditions that produced 80-knot gusts and 10-meter breaking waves — and the race carries that history forward in every edition. The 2025 edition (the most recent in the archive) carries 52 of the 70 fleet boats — the largest single-edition contingent inside the FleetEdge fleet, the edition MIN RIVER won on IRC overall corrected time, and the lens this hub anchors below.

FleetEdge tracks 70 boats in the Sydney Hobart fleet, and the AEROSTREAM archetype leads at 38.6% (27 of 70) — the largest single share on this start line. The current publication carries race observations from the 2024 and 2025 editions. AEROSTREAM is the towering-scale, stiff-reserve family — level-postured rigs with a strong upwind bias, built for the long beat south when the southerly buster fills in. AEROCORE follows at 24.3% (17 of 70) — large, upright-postured hulls on a tender righting reserve — and the two lead names together carry 62.9% of the start line, a two-family front rank rather than a broad field. AEROFORCE holds 10.0% (7) — the large-scale, level-postured tier — with LEANRUN at 8.6% (6) and HEFTLINE at 7.1% (5) behind it. Seven of the archetype model’s eight words are populated in this fleet; one boat is not yet classified in the public archetype model. Farr Design is the fleet’s most-common drawing board at 17.1% (12 boats) in a fleet spread across many design offices.

The fleet lives in the two recent editions. The 2025 running carries 52 of the 70 fleet boats (74.3%); the 2024 running carries 37 (52.9%). This is a race that draws the same campaigns back year after year — multi-year programs, family-owned hulls, and the long-running Bass Strait veterans that treat the race as a summer benchmark rather than a one-off entry. The Australian fleet anchors the entry list; international entries from the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong thread through the entry list from the small divisions to the maxi end. In December 2026 the 81st edition starts Boxing Day under the same Bass Strait weather clock the fleet has been reading for eighty years.

Event cohort view · 52 boats · as of 2026-08-20

Selected Race Result

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2025 — Boxing Day, 26 December 2025, 628 nm.

52 of 70 fleet boats competed in the 2025 edition (74.3% of the fleet, the largest single-edition contingent). One overall race, 628 nautical miles, offshore point-to-point scoring on the IRC overall handicap; at the current published view, 37 of the fleet’s entries in that edition carry the full set of ORC comparison data. MIN RIVER took the overall corrected-time win. The entry-list archetype view for that edition (published nearest this race) is AEROSTREAM-led: of the 37 event-classified boats at that vintage, AEROSTREAM holds 37.8% (14), with AEROCORE at 27.0% (10), and HEFTLINE and LEANRUN at 10.8% (4 each). The Bass Strait conditions of the day are the variable above the structural baseline below.

Headlines

Dimension leaders — the Sydney Hobart 2025 fleet.

Fleet-relative leaders from the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2025, started 26 December 2025. Finish order comes from the published IRC overall standings. Comparative Time is the corrected sec/nm delta against the boat’s ORC median allowance — lower (more negative) means the boat sailed faster than its rating expects; positive means slower. At the current published view, 37 of the boats that competed carry the full comparison set.

IRC Overall Finish

1. MIN RIVER · 1st
2. LEON · 2nd
3. LOVE & WAR · 3rd

Comparative Time — sec/nm vs ORC

1. ELLA · −93.88
2. GIZMO · −66.78
3. MIN RIVER · −55.54
Cohort 37 scored

RM / Displacement

1. YEAH BABY · 121.5
2. LUCKY · 111.2
3. SHK SCALLYWAG · 105.1
Basis Race-fleet relative

Sail Drive Index

1. ARAGON · 36
2. CALLISTO · 31
3. STICKY · 31
Basis Race-fleet relative

Archetype Lead

1. AEROSTREAM
2. AEROCORE
3. HEFTLINE
Cohort 37 classified
Stories

What the 2025 race told us.

Championship Citation

MIN RIVER — Rolex Sydney Hobart 2025 Winner, IRC Overall

MIN RIVER (AUS888, JPK 10.30) finished first in the published IRC overall corrected-time standings of the 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart. The Jacques Valer-drawn JPK 10.30 came out of IRC Division 6 — the smallest-boat division on the start line, which it also won — and beat every larger boat in the race on handicap. The comparative-time lens agrees with the standings: MIN RIVER converted at −55.5 sec/nm against the ORC median allowance over the 628-mile track, the third-best conversion in the scored set. A compact, efficient 34-footer winning the Tattersall Cup edition carried by this fleet is the clearest physics-to-result conversion on the page.

  • IRC Overall: 1st · finish FIN
  • IRC Division 6: division win — rank 1 in class
  • Comparative time: −55.5 sec/nm vs ORC median · 3rd of 37 scored
Complete data · published standings Rolex Sydney Hobart 2025
Class Cluster

Division 6 took three of the top four corrected-time slots.

The smallest-boat division owned the front of the 2025 IRC overall standings: MIN RIVER (1st), LOVE & WAR (3rd), and TOUCAN (4th) all sailed out of IRC Division 6. Only LEON — the Division 5 J/109 — broke the cluster at 2nd. Division 6 concentrated at the top of the corrected-time table: small, efficient hulls converting their handicaps over 628 miles while the grand-prix end of the fleet chased line honors.

  • Division 6 in the top 4: 3 of 4 slots (ranks 1, 3, 4)
  • The outsider: LEON (Division 5, J/109) · 2nd
Complete data · published standings Rolex Sydney Hobart 2025
Magnitude Gap

ELLA: 94 sec/nm under the ORC median from 18th overall.

ELLA (Etchells, SPARKFLEX) posted the fleet’s best comparative-time conversion at −93.9 sec/nm against the ORC median allowance — 27.1 sec/nm clear of GIZMO (−66.8) in second. That is the widest margin on any dimension table for this event. The standings tell a different story: ELLA finished 18th in the IRC overall corrected-time table. The two lenses measure different things — IRC overall is the scored race result under the IRC handicap; the comparative-time delta measures how far the elapsed pace beat the boat’s own ORC median allowance over the 628-mile track. ELLA sailed dramatically faster than its ORC paper number says it should, and the IRC scoring absorbed most of that edge. The gap between the two tables is the rating story of this running.

  • ELLA comparative time: −93.9 sec/nm vs the ORC median
  • Margin over 2nd: 27.1 sec/nm (GIZMO −66.8)
  • IRC overall finish: 18th — different lens, different table
Single race observed · partial coverage FleetEdge Comparative Time
Composition Shift

Same leader, compact middle — the race field leaned on HEFTLINE.

In the FleetEdge view published nearest the race, the 2025 field was led by AEROSTREAM — 37.8% of the 37 event-classified boats (14), with AEROCORE at 27.0% (10), and HEFTLINE and LEANRUN at 10.8% (4 each). Today’s fleet view keeps the same leader at the same pitch: across the full 70-boat fleet, AEROSTREAM holds 38.6% while AEROCORE stands at 24.3%. The shift lives in the middle of the order — the start line carried a heavier HEFTLINE presence than the fleet as it stands today (10.8% against 7.1%), while AEROFORCE, at 10.0% of today’s fleet, thinned to 5.4% in the race field. This card compares what raced against what the fleet is now — composition, not conditions.

  • 2025 race field (vintage view): AEROSTREAM 37.8% · AEROCORE 27.0% · HEFTLINE 10.8% · LEANRUN 10.8%
  • Current fleet view: AEROSTREAM 38.6% · AEROCORE 24.3% · AEROFORCE 10.0% · LEANRUN 8.6% · HEFTLINE 7.1%
  • Scope: 37 event-classified at the 2025 vintage · 70-boat fleet today
Complete data Race group vs fleet
Race Archetypes

37 boats classified in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2025.

Archetype assignments dated 2026-08-20 — the FleetEdge analysis nearest this event.

37 of the boats that raced the 2025 edition carry a FleetEdge archetype assignment at this vintage — 52 competed. AEROSTREAM leads the race field at 14 boats, with AEROCORE at 10 and HEFTLINE and LEANRUN at 4 apiece behind it. The distribution below is the FleetEdge view published nearest the 2025 race.

AEROSTREAM

Towering scale · level posture · stiff reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

Boats 14
Share 37.8%

AEROCORE

Large scale · upright posture · tender reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

Boats 10
Share 27.0%

HEFTLINE

Compact scale · level posture · stiff reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 4
Share 10.8%

LEANRUN

Large scale · upright posture — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 4
Share 10.8%

AEROFORCE

Large scale · level posture · neutral reserve — reaching-constrained in banked race evidence.

Boats 2
Share 5.4%

LEANFORCE

Compact scale — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 2
Share 5.4%

SPARKFLEX

Minimal scale · upright posture · tender reserve — downwind-constrained in banked race evidence.

Boats 1
Share 2.7%

International event fleet · 70 boats · as of 2026-08-20

Fleet DNA

How the Sydney Hobart fleet is built.

70 boats in the fleet. 49 ORC-rated and 21 mapped IRC entries attributed across 7 archetypes — 69 classified, and one boat not yet classified in the public archetype model.

The Sydney Hobart Fleet Signature

AEROSTREAM leads the Sydney Hobart fleet outright at 38.6% (27 boats) — the towering-scale, stiff-reserve family whose strong upwind bias fits the long beat south. AEROCORE is the second force on the start line at 24.3% (17 boats) — large-scale, upright-postured hulls on a tender righting reserve — and together the two lead names carry 62.9% of the fleet, a two-family front rank rather than a broad field. AEROFORCE follows at 10.0% (7 boats), with LEANRUN at 8.6% (6 boats) and HEFTLINE at 7.1% (5) heading a structural tail that keeps seven of the archetype model’s eight words populated across the 70-boat fleet.

  • AEROSTREAM 38.6% · 27 boats
  • AEROCORE 24.3% · 17 boats
  • AEROFORCE 10.0% · 7 boats

Dimension emphasis: Comparative Time · RM / Displacement · Sail Drive

Farr Design is the fleet’s most-common drawing board at 17.1% (12 boats) in a fleet spread across many design offices. Top classes: Sydney 38 and TP-52 (4 each), with First 34.7 and First 40 at three hulls each. The 81st edition starts Boxing Day 2026 under the same Bass Strait weather clock the fleet has been reading for eighty years.

Complete data Latest published view

The full archetype distribution.

AEROSTREAM

Towering scale · level posture · stiff reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

strong upwind · weak reaching · strong downwind

Boats 27
Share 38.6%
  • TP-52
  • XP-44
  • Farr 40

AEROCORE

Large scale · upright posture · tender reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

neutral upwind · neutral reaching · neutral downwind

Boats 17
Share 24.3%
  • First 36
  • Bavaria CR 46
  • J-120

AEROFORCE

Large scale · level posture · neutral reserve — reaching-constrained in banked race evidence.

neutral upwind · weak reaching · neutral downwind

Boats 7
Share 10.0%
  • First 40.7
  • X-43
  • Grand Soleil 40

HEFTLINE

Compact scale · level posture · stiff reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

moderate upwind · moderate reaching · moderate downwind

Boats 5
Share 7.1%
  • J-111
  • Farr 30
  • Cape 31

LEANRUN

Large scale · upright posture — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

neutral upwind · neutral reaching · neutral downwind

Boats 6
Share 8.6%
  • First 36.7
  • J-109
  • First 35

LEANFORCE

Compact scale — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

weak upwind · neutral reaching · weak downwind

Boats 6
Share 8.6%
  • Fortuna 9
  • Mat 10.10
  • Aphrodite 101

SPARKFLEX

Minimal scale · upright posture · tender reserve — downwind-constrained in banked race evidence.

weak upwind · moderate reaching · weak downwind

Boats 1
Share 1.4%
  • J-80 OD
  • J-24
  • J-70 ONE DESIGN

AEROSTREAM’s 38.6% share leads the fleet outright — AEROCORE follows at 24.3%, with AEROFORCE at 10.0%, LEANRUN at 8.6%, and HEFTLINE at 7.1% behind them. The Sydney Hobart fleet says something specific about what the Bass Strait demands: a front rank of large-scale hulls led by AEROSTREAM’s strong upwind bias for the long beat south, backed by a structural tail that keeps seven of the archetype model’s eight words populated in this fleet.

At a glance

Sydney Hobart — structural profile.

Scope
70 boats
49 ORC-rated · 21 mapped-IRC
Top 3 archetypes
  1. AEROSTREAM — 27 boats (38.6%)
  2. AEROCORE — 17 boats (24.3%)
  3. AEROFORCE — 7 boats (10.0%)
Eight canonical performance archetypes cluster the fleet by dimensional signature. See the full map →
Top designer cluster
Farr Design
12 boats (17.1%) — the most-represented design voice in this fleet.

Counts and archetype assignments above are measured from the current corpus. Commentary below is interpretive.

International event fleet · as of 2026-08-20

Classified fleet view · 69 of 70 classified · as of 2026-08-20

Fleet Stories

Sydney Hobart signature.

Designer Density

Farr Design anchors the Sydney Hobart drawing board.

Farr Design carries the largest single designer share in the Sydney Hobart fleet at 17.1% (12 boats). The Farr board is the clearest design-office signal on this start line, with the rest of the fleet spread across many other design offices. Even so, no one office dominates outright — the Sydney Hobart entry list spans grand-prix custom builds, production racer-cruisers, and one-off offshore programs, and the Farr lead sits above a long tail rather than a one-design monoculture.

  • Farr Design: 17.1% of the fleet
  • Top classes: Sydney 38, TP-52 (4 each) · First 34.7, First 40 at 3 each
Complete data Designer mix
Archetype Density

AEROSTREAM leads the Sydney Hobart fleet at 38.6%.

AEROSTREAM carries the largest single share of the Sydney Hobart fleet at 38.6% (27 of 70 boats) — the clearest structural signal on this start line. AEROSTREAM is the towering-scale, stiff-reserve family with a strong upwind bias — a profile built for the long beat south. AEROCORE follows at 24.3% (17 boats) — large, upright-postured hulls on a tender righting reserve — and the two lead names together carry 62.9% of the fleet, a two-family front rank rather than a broad field. Behind them AEROFORCE — the large-scale, level-postured tier — holds 10.0% (7), with LEANRUN at 8.6% (6) and HEFTLINE at 7.1% (5) and seven of the archetype model’s eight words populated — enough spread for a 628-mile offshore passage that samples every condition.

  • AEROSTREAM: 38.6% of the fleet
  • AEROCORE: 24.3% of the fleet
  • AEROFORCE: 10.0% · LEANRUN 8.6% · HEFTLINE 7.1%
Complete data Archetype mix
Popular Classes

The boats that define the Sydney Hobart fleet.

Sydney 38 (4)

The Murray Burns Dovel one-design Australian offshore class — the local-build cornerstone of the fleet, tuned for east-coast Australian conditions, and — level with the TP-52 — the joint-largest class on this start line.

First 34.7 (3)

The Bénéteau First 34.7, a Farr Design racer-cruiser — compact, level, and well suited to the small-division end of the fleet where the corrected-time table is won.

First 40 (3)

The Bénéteau First 40 — a fast production racer-cruiser that carries offshore campaigns well, a fixture of the middle divisions.

TP-52 (4)

The 52-foot grand-prix class at the sharp end of the fleet — professional-crew platforms that chase the front of the race while the handicap tables are decided behind them. The rest of the 70-boat fleet spreads across one-offs, custom builds, and single-entry production classes.

Continue

Go deeper.

Fastnet

The peer RORC offshore classic — 695 nm from Cowes to Cherbourg, the structural counterpart to the Sydney Hobart on the European side.

Australia

The Australian country page — the broader national fleet that the Sydney Hobart draws from, with fleet context across the country’s racing programs.

Fleet Archetypes

The FleetEdge archetype framework — eight performance archetypes across eleven measured slots, the 2026 census lens this hub uses to read the fleet signature.

ORC World Fleet

The 482-boat world-traveling fleet — the cross-fleet comparative lens above the IRC and ORC event hubs.

Ocean Intelligence

The HYCOM ocean-current reanalysis layer — the inshore-or-offshore EAC decision that separates hours, not minutes, on the Sydney Hobart track.

IRC Racing

All six IRC offshore classics in one analytical framework — the parent hub for the Sydney Hobart, Fastnet, Middle Sea Race, Caribbean 600, Cowes Offshore, and Transatlantic.

Analyze the Sydney Hobart.

628 nm through the Bass Strait. Every dimension measured.

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