ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE 2019 OVERALL WINNER

Matt Allen and Crew Named Overall Winners, North Clients Crowd IRC Podiums

Longtime North Sails customer Matt Allen is once again hoisting the Tattersall Cup, in celebration of Ichi Ban’s victory as Overall Winner of this year’s 628 mile race from Sydney to Hobart. Matt also won this prestigious trophy in 2017, and this is another fitting victory for a yacht named “number one” in Japanese.

Ichi Ban’s sail inventory includes a full 3Di upwind package and NPC Downwind spinnakers. Matt works closely with the North team in Australia, and North experts Rob Greenhalgh and Dick Parker were both onboard for the 2019 win.

The Ichi Ban team has been dialing in the TP52’s performance since first launching in the fall of 2017. But their competition has been doing the same, so Ichi Ban had to work hard to earn their 2019 title. “All the campaigns have really stepped up this year; people have tried to emulate what we have done,” Matt said. “There’s no doubt about the competition in this race—in the 44 to 55 footers alone, it is incredible. You wouldn’t find the competition we have in this race anywhere else in the world.”

Many other North Sails clients bested their own tough competition as well. North sails were on board every super maxi competing in the 2019 race, and North inventories took the top spots in seven of nine IRC classes and swept four IRC podiums. A special congratulations to Corinthian team Katwinchar, the oldest boat to ever compete in the RSHYR, which won the Grand Veterans Division.