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How Comanche overcame last year's retirement to win Sydney to Hobart
Nicholas Quinlan • December 29th, 2025 4:40 pm
Co-skipper of Comanche, James Mayo, has reflected on what it means to win this year’s Sydney to Hobart race.
The supermaxi would claim the race in a time of 2 days, 5 hours, 3 minutes and 36 seconds, which saw them beat out last year’s winners LawConnect by just under an hour.
The win, which is the fifth time that Comanche has claimed line honours in the race, was an extra special one considering that they were forced to retire early due to mainsail damage.
Speaking with Adam White on SEN Mornings, the skipper noted that the conditions were certainly different compared to last year’s.
“I think the race record (set in 2017) is 1 day, 9 hours, so we were certainly feeling that on the first night out,” Mayo said.
“I was halfway up the Bass Strait, and I was like, you know what? That was at 36 hours, last year we were here at 12 (hours), and it was pretty wild.
“And this year, we are here at 36 hours, and it’s on the nose, and it is still brutal.
“It was a good reflection at the 36-hour mark.”
With southerly wind making conditions tougher than usual at the start of the race, this saw many of the yachts struggle with
As a result, this would turn the race into much more of a slog.
As a result, this would turn the race into much more of a slog.
“You can’t go straight into the wind,” he continued.
“So, you’ve got to continually sailing at an angle against it, and it just takes that much longer. It’s a slog.
“And when you get a weather pattern like that, I think every sailor goes, ‘Oh, here we go. We better mentally prepare for this because it is going to be tough'.”
However, with a quality yacht like Comanche, it certainly helps to fight those tough conditions, with Mayo comparing it to a racehorse.
“I mean this particular boat, it’s like a racehorse,” he explained.
“She just talks to you, she’s ready to go. If you prepared her well then and you haven’t left any stone unturned, you can get on her.
“But if you get on her when you haven’t done the work, she’ll take you where you want to go, and you better hang on for the ride, and that’s definitely what it feels like.
“She has an incredible personality. I mean, this is probably one of the most iconic racing yachts in the world in all conditions, and she demonstrated that.
“Not only with the wind behind us, on the side, but right straight into it (the wind). She got us here.”
