The official prizegiving for the 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart took place at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania this morning.

The majority of the top silverware for the 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart was picked up by Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI and Simon Kurts’ Love & War sailed by a team led by skipper Lindsay May. The former was awarded the J. H. Illingworth Trophy for winning line honours, the Jack Rooklyn Memorial Trophy for being the first yacht out of Sydney Heads and the F&J Livingstone Trophy for being the first yacht due south of Tasman Island, as well as finishing second in IRC Division 0 and the Rolex Challenge.

Love & War’s Lindsay May received the Tattersalls Cup for winning overall under IRC handicap, and a Rolex Yachtmaster timepiece. May was also awarded the Sir Arthur Warner Trophy for coming first in IRC Division 4.

At the prizegiving it was announced that the Wild Oats XI crew had clubbed together to donate AUD$ 2,000 for the cancer fund-raising being carried out during the race by British skipper Michelle Colenso, who’s Oyster 55 Capriccio of Rhu won the Cruising Division. Mid-way through a round the world cruise Colenso was diagnosed with breast cancer and she competed in the Rolex Sydney Hobart despite being mid-way through her chemotherapy treatment. The donation from the Wild Oats crew was later matched by Lindsay May.

Looking back at the 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race Geoff Lavis, Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, organisers of the event commented: “I think that this race was one of the better races that we’ve had. This race was very, very good for sailing and yacht racing in general. It was a fairly hard race, it had retirements, it had a boat sinking, it had injuries, so there was drama. Overall it was a very, very tactical race for the boats competing and it was a great result for the Corinthian style of boat to take first, second and third overall under IRC handicap. As Commodore of the CYCA, I am very proud to be the representative of the club at this point in time.”