‘Min River’ Wins Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The doublehanded team of skipper/owner Jiang Lin and co-skipper Alexis Loison aboard the JPK 10.30 Min River (NSW, Australia) have been crowned the 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race overall winners. Min River crossed the finish line in 41st place on December 30 with a time of 03:23:38:26. Jiang Lin is the first female skipper, and Lin and Loisin the first doublehanded crew, to win the 628-mile race, with a corrected time of 04:01:56:09.

The result was announced following Min River’s successful protest against doublehanded crew Michel Quintin and Yann Rigal aboard the JPK 10.80 BNC – my::Net.

Lin and Loisin argued that BNC breached Australian Sailing Racing Rule of Sailing 55.3(a):

55.3 Sheeting Sails
No sail shall be sheeted over or through any device that exerts outward pressure on a sheet or clew of a sail at a point from which, with the boat upright, a vertical line would fall outside the hull or deck, except:

(a) a headsail clew may be connected (as defined in The Equipment Rules of Sailing) to a whisker pole, provided that a spinnaker is not set;

(b) any sail may be sheeted to or led above a boom that is regularly used for a sail and is permanently attached to the mast from which the head of the sail is set;

(c) a headsail may be sheeted to its own boom that requires no adjustment when tacking; and

(d) the boom of a sail may be sheeted to a bumkin.

Quintin and Rigal acknowledged their error, saying they had been unaware of the rule.

Each year, the fleet sets off from Sydney on the afternoon of December 26 (AEST) and finishes in Hobart, Tasmania, in front of Constitution Dock, off Hobart’s Battery Point. The time of their arrival is determined by the conditions, boats and crews. One thing is certain: The race is known as one of the hardest 600-mile ocean races in the world. This year was no different.

Richmond Yacht Club commodore Jim Quanci and club member Andy Schwenk raced aboard John Wilkerson’s Express 37 Perplexity (Port Madison Yacht Club, Bainbridge Island, Washington). Perplexity docked in Hobart around 1 a.m. on December 31 (AEST). When we heard from Jim later that morning, he commented on the difficult weather conditions leaving Sydney Harbour at the start of the race, followed by “champagne sailing” across Bass Strait (notorious for rough, high seas and challenging conditions), and back to harsh conditions heading down Tasmania’s east coast. But his enthusiasm at having completed the race was palpable. (Stay tuned for an in-depth race wrap with Jim Quanci and Andy Schwenk, coming soon.)

While we missed seeing the crew of Perplexity dock in Hobart, we did catch up with Jim Murray and Bill Colombo aboard the Pac 52 Callisto (eighth place in Line Honors, corrected time 04:09:41:44). We chatted with Jim and Bill on the docks after their arrival in Hobart on December 29.

We hope to share more stories from the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race in upcoming ‘Lectronic Latitudes.