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- The Yachts
- 2016
- Komatsu Azzurro
Komatsu Azzurro
This is the old and reliable yacht that produced magic for Shane Kearns and his crew by winning the 2015 Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race and moved on to hold Balance hostage up until the last, in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, in which she ultimately finished third overall when she was robbed of wind after rounding Tasman Island. Komatsu Azzurro was also second in Division 4, won ORCi overall, won ORCi Division 3 and won the Corinthian division. Since then, she has finished seventh overall in Division 3 at the 2016 NSW IRC Championship, in a style of racing she is not suited for.
The story of this boat and her owner reads like a fairy tale. Built in 1981 for Victorian Ron White who died in 2012, Shane Kearns bought the former Shenandoah II in 2014 after finding the yacht in a bad state after it nearly sank in Queensland in 2014. He lovingly restored her to such a point she is now unrecognisable. Kearns found his crew at his former skipper, John Walker’s funeral. They too, had sailed with Walker for years. The rest, as they say, is history. Kearns believes ‘Johnnie’ Walker looks after them from above.
Competitor Details
Yacht Name | Komatsu Azzurro |
Sail Number | 3430 |
Owner | Shane Kearns |
Skipper | Shane Kearns |
Navigator | Alex Seja |
Crew | D McRae, F Nelson, J Nixon, M Doherty |
State | NSW |
Club | CYCA |
Type | S & S 34 |
Designer | Sparkman & Stephens (USA) |
Builder | Swarbrick Bros |
Construction | GRP |
LOA | 10.1 |
Beam | 3.1 |
Draft | 1.9 |