Sam Haynes, is the provisional Overall winner of the 2024 Rolex Sydney Hobart with Celestial V70.
Haynes, Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, had won the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart after finishing runner-up in 2021, on the losing end of a protest.
On winning for a second time – and with just one race in between – the Sydney veterinarian admitted: “It does have a different feel about it, this race. The loss of life of two competitors – we are mindful of that – my thoughts are with the families.
Haynes never dreamed he would hold the Tattersall Cup in his hands again, after selling his TP52 Celestial late this year.
What he didn’t know at the time he chartered Willow this year, was that the weather would play right into the hands of the yacht and his dedicated crew for the 2024 race.
“I just give the crew my upmost respect. And I thank them,” he said of navigator Alex Nolan, tactician Rob Greenhalgh, Lewis Brake, David Burt, David Chapman, Peter Cumming, Edward Hackney, Jack Macartney, Francis O’Leary, William Haynes, Luke Parkinson, Luke Payne, Liam Woulfe and Harry West.
