Naval Group, a world leader in naval defence, has successfully launched its 69-foot mini maxi for its second Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race quest. The boat, a relative newcomer to the large and competitive fleet, is led by Sean Langman, Managing Director of Noakes Group and one of Australia’s most experienced offshore yachtsmen. This year’s Sydney Hobart is the skipper’s 29th time racing with the fleet to Tasmania, a place he often refers to as his ‘spiritual home’.
The vastly experienced crew, hand selected by Langman and with close to 100 Hobart races between them, includes two Naval Group representatives, one French and one Australian. The team departed Sydney Harbour in a good position and having turned right at the seamark to begin its 628 nautical challenge to Hobart, travelling at 20 knots in a nor’easter direction.
Declaring the 2018 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race the easiest of his ‘Hobarts’ and having since put the crew and boat through an intense training regime for the ultimate annual yachting challenge, Sean Langman is hopeful the 75th edition will bring promising conditions and corrected time results. They finished 11th over the line in 2018 to record an elapsed time of 2 days, 11 hours, 14 minutes.
“This year our compact team of Naval Group employees and professional sailors are galvanised to deliver the best possible outcome for the yacht. This will be my 29th Rolex Sydney Hobart; with the skills and collaboration of this crew, our aim is to finish the race and ensure a very good rank on corrected time for the Tattersall Cup” said Sean Langman.
“The amount of preparation undertaken by the team showcases the commitment required to mount a strong campaign in such a competitive international race. I am confident the strong partnership between the Australian and French sailors will bring promising results. We wish our crew and the whole fleet a safe and enjoyable race to Hobart,” said Francois Romanet, Chief Executive Officer of Naval Group Pacific.
“The next few days will test our crew’s ability to work together to achieve a shared mission. This display of collaboration, commitment and teamwork are some of the key attributes central to building, planning and delivering the largest single naval procurement program in Australia’s history, the Australian Future Submarine Program,” said John Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Naval Group Australia.
Originally launched in 2008 as a RP65 called Moneypenny, the Naval Group yacht has raced in Australian and international waters.
Naval Group’s journey from Sydney to Hobart can be followed on Facebook and Twitter, and from two hours after the 1pm start on December 26 the boat can be tracked south via:
rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker/
The Naval Group crew:
- Sean Langman, skipper (Managing Director, Noakes)
- Steven Patriarca, main grinder (Infrastructure Subcontract Manager, Naval Group Australia)
- Pierre Louiset, front grinder (MOBi-SFTY Sub-systems Manager, Naval Group)
- Justin Ferris, crew boss
- Josh Alexander, navigator
- Jonathan Swain, front sail trimmer
- Shaun McKnight, mid-bow
- Oliver Scott-Mackie, bow
- Ed Powys, mainsail trimmer
- Brett Van Munster, backstay/runners
- Joe De Kock, front sail trimmer
- Pete Langman, mid-bow
- Emily Nagel, pit
Naval Group is Australia’s design and build partner for the Future Submarine Program. Australia’s new future submarines will be known as the Attack class and will be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2030s.
Press contact
Candi Hindocha
Tel. +61 (0)459 104 987
navalgroup@redhavas.com