Sydney-Hobart super-women Adrienne Cahalan joins the crew of Tasmanian yacht Alive

Tasmanian yacht Alive has added a big gun to its arsenal for the 2023 Sydney to Hobart yacht race. What to expect from the champion sailor >>

Racing yacht Alive powers through the water in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

Tasmania’s Sydney to Hobart champion yacht Alive has a new weapon on-board for its 2023 shot at the Tattersalls Cup with the addition of gun navigator Adrienne Cahalan to its crew.

The 59-year-old Sydney sailor, lining up for her 31st Sydney-Hobart, is as good as it gets as a blue water and ocean racing a navigator, having sailed on four Sydney-Hobart line honours winners and done three Volvo Ocean Races and was navigator on Cheyenne when it broke the round the world speed record in 2004.

SAILING - Rolex Sydney Hobart 2023 Press Conference forecast Cruising Yacht Club of Australia - 18/12/2023 ph. Andrea Francolini ADRIENNE CAHALAN, navigator on ALIVE and ALICE PARKER, navigator on URM

Cahalan joins Alive’s Tasmanian owner Phil Turner and skipper Duncan Hine as they try to repeat their glorious run in 2018 when they won the race on overall handicap.

“We did a regatta in Sydney a couple of weeks ago, which was a really good warm-up and it gets you familiar with the type of weather conditions at this time of year, which I’m sure everybody knows have been quite difficult to forecast and work through,” Cahalan said.

“As a navigator I’ve been looking at the global modelling, which starts 16 days before the race.

Racing yacht Alive powers through the water in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

“This year the models aren’t agreeing with each other.

“So there’s still a bit of uncertainty about what’s going to happen in the race.”

Alive is a 66-foot maxi-chaser capable of taking line honours if the bigger boats break or make a critical tactical error.

Cahalan said strategy on dry land played an important part in what happens when the cannon fires to set the fleet racing on Sydney Harbour at 1pm on Boxing Day.

“It’s a bit like a Formula One race car where you’ve got all of the people working through the numbers _ sails, projected boat speeds in certain wind conditions,” she said.

“We have quite a few scenarios and make decisions on what sails to take based on those.

“Even right up until the day you might choose a particular spinnaker over something else.

“Some years, even a week before the race, you’ve got some certainty about the forecast but this year we are having to work through all different scenarios because so much is uncertain about what might happen after the start.”

The 628 nautical mile race has found a way to keep Cahalan’s interest.

“Every race is so different, every team is so different and every boat is so different and that keeps it interesting,” she said.

“I love the team side of it and the anticipation, and my job is practically interesting because there has been so much change.

“When I first started we were using compasses and celestial navigation, and now we’ve got state-of-the-art electronics on-board and full-speed internet.

“It’s a really interesting job that I’ve got and I love the challenge and the pulling together a perfect race is something you just keep aiming for.”