Latest sailing news
Whoops: Spithill at helm as Orcale capsize test boat
![Upsy daisy: An Orcale sailor holds on for life.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/9/c/6/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gn9bxu.png/1456970194757.jpg)
Duncan Johnstone Champion Australian sailor Jimmy Spithill has had some fine days on the water but this wasn't one of them as America's Cup holders Oracle crashed a test boat in Bermuda.
Yachts hit head-on in fatal sailing accident
![David Booth, the yachtsman who died in a sailing accident on Saturday.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/5/q/6/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gn5irj.png/1456641249653.jpg)
Anne Davies The two yachts involved in Saturday's tragic accident, which killed one man and left another in a critical condition fighting to keep his leg, hit head-on as one approached a mark off Clareville in Sydney's Pittwater, and the other began its run downwind.
Champion skipper James Spithill rates next year's America's Cup 'most winnable'
![Winning spirit: James Spithill will take Comanche's Sydney to Hobart success into next year's America's Cup defence.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/v/a/3/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmcj3z.png/1453519314841.jpg)
Rupert Guinness The America's Cup next year is set to be the most competitive yet, believes James Spithill, the Australian skipper of the defending champions Oracle-Team USA.
James Spithill: How Sydney to Hobart near disaster helps America's Cup bid
!["You've just got to keep digging deep and punch your way out of the corner": James Spithill.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/c/i/0/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gmce25.png/1453533116192.jpg)
Rupert Guinness James Spithill has built his reputation on fighting his way out of a corner.
Sailing
Local crew conjures up Pelagic Magic in Sydney to Hobart yacht race
![Pelagic Magic battles 40 knot squalls on the second day of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/y/6/q/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gly6pg.png/1451728684809.jpg)
Mary Lynn Mather A crew of predominantly Canberra-based sailors held their own in the demanding Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
Sydney to Hobart 2015: Balance skipper buoyant but 'knackered' after night of waiting
![Home and hosed: Balance tips the scales as the overall winner of the Sydney-to-Hobart.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/x/d/a/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glxd75.png/1451534998572.jpg)
Paul Clitheroe spent Wednesday night sweating on whether challengers would knock his 52-footer Balance off the top of the Sydney-to-Hobart handicap standings.
Balance named Sydney to Hobart overall winner
![Balance claimed victory overall.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/x/4/r/g/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glx4nl.png/1451512548746.jpg)
New South Wales boat Balance is the overall winner of the 2015 Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
Syd Fischer is ready, willing and 'likely' to go again
![Super-maxi Ragamuffin 100 owner and skipper Syd Fischer sits onboard.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/v/w/7/d/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glwahu.png/1451394562231.jpg)
Rupert Guinness After Syd Fischer declared that he will likely race the Sydney to Hobart for a 49th time next year after skippering his Ragamuffin 100 to second on line honours on Tuesday, his sailing master David Witt beamed and then quipped: "If he is stupid enough to keep going then I am."
Ragamuffin 100 wins nail-biting finish for second place
![Race to the finish: Rambler 88 was edged out by Ragamuffin 100.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/w/1/q/x/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glw1an.png/1451372151857.jpg)
Rupert Guinness Super-maxi Ragamuffin 100, owned and skippered by Syd Fischer, took second place on line honours in the Sydney to Hobart on Tuesday morning in a nail-biter of a finish with Rambler 88 – albeit an agonisingly slow nail-biter as winds virtually petered out.
Foreign raider calls for more racing before the big one
![Race to the finish: Rambler 88 was edged out by Ragamuffin 100.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/w/1/q/x/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glwbig.png/1451371302716.jpg)
Rupert Guinness Sydney to Hobart organisers should schedule a three day regatta of harbour racing before the Boxing Day start to provide foreign entries more value for their campaigns, says American George David, the owner and skipper of the US 88-footer Rambler 88.
'I've never feared for my life like that': Erin Molan
![Erin Molan was forced to confront her childhood fear of waves in the Sydney to Hobart on Perpetual Loyal.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/w/3/j/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glw1au.png/1451360336720.jpg)
Katie Burgess Despite experiencing crippling fear, Erin Molan says she will give the Sydney to Hobart another crack after being forced to retire early.
Sydney to Hobart 2015: Comanche pursuit pays off as American super maxi takes out line honours
![Super-maxi Comanche.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/v/a/3/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glw08a.png/1451377919607.jpg)
Rupert Guinness American supermaxi Comanche has taken line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
Darryl Hodgkinson now suffers agony to go with winning ecstacy
![On Saturday night, Hodgkinson was sent flying across the galley of Victoire and hit the table.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/w/0/b/a/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glvxn1.png/1451303247953.jpg)
Rupert Guinness Darryl Hodgkinson can now say - no doubt with regret - that he has experienced the agony of the Sydney to Hobart to go with the ecstasy that came when he won the race on handicap in 2013.
Ragamuffin 100 skipper set for a 'winner's' cheer
![Doing it for Syd: The crew on Ragamuffin still have 88-year-old Syd Fischer to answer to.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/v/w/7/q/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glvv7w.png/1451317794172.jpg)
Rupert Guinness When Syd Fischer and his maxi Ragamuffin 100 cross the finish line of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race as is expected on Tuesday, he will likely be greeted with the same cheer deserving of a winner.
'Quite dangerous' procedure keeps Ragamuffin 100's hopes alive
![Scary stuff: Syd Fischer's Ragamuffin 100.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/o/b/b/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glvnbj.png/1451271186071.jpg)
Rupert Guinness The crew of Ragamuffin 100 have had to execute a "quit dangerous" procedure for much of the Sydney to Hobart to stay in the race, let alone within hunt of a podium place on line honours.
Comanche stretches Sydney to Hobart lead
![Super-maxi Comanche leaves Sydney on Boxing Day.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/v/8/j/b/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glvkm6.png/1451279709342.jpg)
Andrew Drummond American entry Comanche has stretched her overnight lead in the Sydney to Hobart as three more yachts withdrew from the blue water classic.
US showdown for line honours fight, says Rambler 88 navigator
![With conditions expected to ease right off, Rambler was well placed to claim a surprise line honours victory from a ...](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/v/f/t/i/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glvdjw.png/1451217857637.jpg)
Rupert Guinness An American showdown for Sydney to Hobart line honours is on the cards, believes the Australian tactician on one of the two boats, Rambler 88 navigator Andrew Cape.
Tough night at sea leaves Dare Devil skipper worse for wear
![Great outdoors: Sibby Ilzhofer, one of four female captains in the Sydney to Hobart fleet, is not one for creature comforts.](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/2/d/4/c/d/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glvg3j.png/1451204382676.jpg)
Rupert Guinness There are few in the Sydney to Hobart fleet who had a worse time of it on the harrowing first night than Sibby Ilzhofer, the skipper of 47-footer Dare Devil.
Rambler, Comanche neck and neck in Sydney to Hobart
![With conditions expected to ease right off, Rambler was well placed to claim a surprise line honours victory from a ...](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/v/f/t/i/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glvflg.png/1451212391604.jpg)
Matt Encarnacion The Sydney to Hobart race appears set for its first non-Australian line honours winner in 13 years.
I would do Syd-Hob again: Clarke
![Kyly and Michael Clarke](/web/20160618044811im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/v/f/t/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.glvflt.png/1451193222811.jpg)
Matt Encarnacion Former Test cricket captain Michael Clarke says he'd compete in the Sydney to Hobart race again despite torrid conditions and illness experienced in his abbreviated debut.