The Jackal snatches victory in Melbourne-Hobart race

The Jackal has clinched line honours in the Melbourne to Hobart ‘Westcoaster’ yacht race after holding off challenges in a tight finish.

The fleet set off from Portsea for the 435 nautical mile journey, with Matt Setton’s Ker 11.3 craft crossing the finish line in a time of three days, five hours, 22 minutes and 23 seconds.

In his first race as skipper, Setton set the pace early with The Jackal first across the start line and also winning the Sea Pilot’s Trophy for first boat out of Port Phillip Heads.

The boat was never headed despite the best efforts of Matt Fahey’s Sydney 38, Faster Forward and a last-ditch surge from Justin Brenan’s Lidgard 36, Alien, in the final few miles of the race.

The leader’s strategy of staying closer to shore resulted in navigating weaker winds while night-time tactics aboard Alien halved their deficit to The Jackal to just 15 nautical miles.

While The Jackal held on for line honours, Alien was the overall winner of the race, in its 53rd year.

Setton embraced his partner Katie and his excited children, Tara and Zeke after docking at the Elizabth Street Pier and said day two proved crucial.

“I’m pretty happy to be here, very relieved, it’s been a big year getting the boat ready, I’m glad we made it,” said Setton, from the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron.

“I think our downwind speed on the second day gave us a little bit of a break from Faster Forward.

“We knew that they would be pretty good upwind and so for the first 12 hours or so, it wasn’t quite downwind, and there were only a few miles between us, but we thought, once the breeze got behind us, we’d be able to skip away a little bit, and we were able to do that which was good.”

Onboard The Jackal with Setton were Jeff Whiteside, Nigel Fellowes-Freeman, Peter Grant, Stuart Addison, Robert Buchanan, Thor Cembala and Ronald Piang Ng.

“It was a great team effort, I try and get a good all-round team and people that can do multiple things, not just one role, particularly drivers,” Setton said.

“I think it’s important to have people who are really good and comfortable driving in the day, at night, in heavy and in light conditions, so you aren’t reliant on one or two people. “

The Westcoaster race starts with a 125 nautical mile passage across Bass Strait before the fleet sails 200 nautical miles south down the West Coast of Tasmania, past Maatsuyker Island, east to South East Cape then turning northeast through the challenging waters of Storm Bay and then the fickle conditions of the River Derwent.