Sydney-Hobart: Samantha Grant the powerhouse behind Comanche

Jim Cooney, skipper of Comanche, gets cameras and microphones shoved in his face whenever he steps off the Hobart race-winning supermaxi.

Samantha Grant, centre, celebrates with husband Jim Cooney and son James. Picture: Richard Jupe

Jim Cooney, skipper of Comanche, gets cameras and microphones shoved in his face whenever he steps off the Hobart race-winning supermaxi, but the yacht’s co-skipper — his wife Samantha Grant — is largely ignored.

It was, however, Grant’s decision in 2017 to buy the big red yacht from US billionaire Jim Clark and the crew have quietly let on that she is the glue that holds the campaign together.

When the yacht pulled into the dock on Saturday morning after winning one of the most hotly contested Hobart races for years, Cooney again copped the camera and microphone treatment from the waiting media, while Grant quietly moved around the yacht thanking the crew and then warmly embracing her two youngest children as they scrambled aboard.

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When she finally stepped ashore, the TV cameramen and beautifully groomed and made-up female TV presenters ignored her.

Dressed in shapeless, salt encrusted waterproof sailing gear and sporting a blush of sunburn across her freckled face, Grant was initially reluctant to discuss her role on the multimillion-dollar yacht — now recognised as the fastest supermaxi in the world.

Throughout the 628 nautical miles race and for one day, 18 hours, 30 minutes and 24 seconds, she shared the cockpit with husband Cooney and their American navigator Stan Honey.

“It is wonderful to have won again,” Grant said as she briefly held the John Illingworth trophy awarded to the line honours winner, so The Australian’s photographer could take a snap.

“It was a joint decision to buy the boat but I did the figures and decided it wouldn’t cost much more to run than Maserati, then our racing yacht,” she said.

“We have always sailed with the children and this was a wonderful opportunity for them all to sail together.”

The rules for the Rolex Sydney Hobart race now prohibit children from racing before they are 18 years old, so thus far only two of Grant and Cooney’s four children have sailed on Comanche — but the other two have it in their sights.

“The crew is a bit like an extended family,” Grant said.

“Most have been with us for years and have sailed across the world. When you undertake a race like the 2500 nautical mile Transpac race from California to Hawaii that takes more than six days, as we did earlier this year, you have to like the people you are sailing with.

“The crew have been wonderful with our children and have taught them so much about sailing. It really keeps us all together.”

Despite continued denials from Cooney, the waterfront scuttlebutt in Hobart continues to insist he has sold Comanche. The latest rumour says the buyer is a Russian.