Rolex Sydney Hobart: Min River's historic overall victory
by Di Pearson/RSHYR Media 31 Dec 2025 03:19 PST
Dr. Sam Haynes, Commodore of CYCA, Alexis Loison, Jiang Lin (Min River) and Eduardo Maclean, Managing Director Rolex Australia © CYCA
Min River has been declared the Overall winner of the 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
Her owner, Jiang Lin, is the first woman to ever win the race and together with her co-skipper Alexis Loison they also became the first double handed crew to lay claim to the famous Tattersall Cup - a day of historic significance in the race.
After a protracted battle with seven other double-handed boats and two fully crewed yachts, Love & War and Midnight Rambler in the last 36 hours of Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's famous race, it became apparent that it was between BNC - my::Net/LEON and Min River.
Lin and Loison were originally sitting in second place Overall. However, following a protest by the Race Committee against the double handed crew on BNC - my::Net/LEON (Michel Quintin/Yann Rigal) for a rule infringement, the latter was penalised one hour and five minutes by the International Jury. That result delivered the Overall victory to Min River.
[S-W: Min River lodged a protest Tuesday, at the start of the Hearing on Wednesday morning, BNC made a declaration, following which the race committee advised they would be making a report to the International Jury, and following that advice, Min River elected to withdraw their protest - click here for an earlier story.]
Sixty-year-old Jiang Lin admitted this afternoon, "I did not have hopes of winning. You think about all the 100-something boats, all the big boats and superb sailors out there. Not in my wildest dreams did I think this would come true for me. So no, I didn't think about it. The best would be winning our division." Which they did.
"It hasn't sunk in yet. Maybe I wake up and say, 'oh that was a dream.'"
"It is special for me definitely, so I am very happy."
Loison added: "No, I did not expect to win, but we had a good strategy of pushing very hard. We had a lot of sail changes."
"Many times," Jiang Lin added.
Loison: "We forgot to sleep. It's crazy to win, we are proud of ourselves."
On displacing BNC - my::Net/LEON as the Overall winner, did Jiang and Loison have mixed feelings? "No. It is what it is - we are still the winners," Jiang Lin said.
"We are having dinner together as a group tomorrow (with all the double-handed competitors). I already have confirmed I am coming. So we will have a good drink and celebrations."
Like all other competitors in the race, the double handed duo found parts of the race quite difficult. Loison said, "Very hard first two days and last night. And a lot of good memories at the end. At the finish, we knew we were very close to very good results."
Jiang Lin had been racing in the twilight and Sunday summer series at Balmain Sailing Club, which in 2015 named her 'Most Improved Keelboat Sailor', just three years after she began sailing - as a 47-year-old.
Jiang Lin has always chosen top co-skippers, French and Australians to race with, in Australia and overseas. Asked if she had already signed Loison up for the 2026 Rolex Sydney Hobart, Jiang Lin laughed and said, "Umm, maybe."
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S-W NZ: Jiang Lin's co-skipper Alexis Loison (FRA) in the same design - a JPK 1030 - sailing two-handed - won both the overall honours in the 2025 Rolex Fastnet and the 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart - a remarkable achievement.