Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Tech millionaire Christian Beck has relaunched his super maxi yacht for the 2026 Sydney to Hobart race, firing off the first jabs at his competitors as he looks to claim line honours for the third time.
Beck unveiled his 100ft super maxi yacht on Wednesday in Woolwich where, two weeks earlier, celebrity accountant Anthony Bell announced his own return to the ocean race after a decade away.
Beck purchased the yacht off Bell in 2017 a year after it won line honours. After winning twice as LawConnect, Beck announced the move back to sailing under the name InfoTrack on Wednesday with his wife, Rachel, performing a libation ceremony where a bottle of champagne is smashed over the bow for good fortune.
Besides Comanche’s retirement in 2024 due to damage on board, either Bell or Beck’s boats have placed first or second over the line in the last four Sydney to Hobart races, making it one of the most fierce rivalries in the race.
Speaking to guests gathered at the dock, Beck said he believed his “shitbox” yacht was inferior to Bell’s Tribeca Loyal (previously known as Comanche) but that in his favour was the years he’s spent with the boat given Bell’s has been sailed by different teams (being previously skippered by John Winning Jnr and the duo of Matt Allen and James Mayo) with its owners in Singapore.
“They’ve been chartering it out to Australians to do the Sydney to Hobart and generally those guys sail it for like two years, and the good thing about that two-year cycle is they don’t get to learn, like I have, that the best thing to do is stay out of the way,” Beck said.
“And often the equivalent to me gets involved, pretends they know how to sail, and it affects the professional crew and slows them down.
“So that remains the case this year, we’ve got Anthony Bell who has done it before, he used to own our boat. And what I’m hoping is that he’ll be very involved in the race and that’ll maximise the chances we can win.”
In response, Bell told this masthead: “Beck’s got a long history of trying to get attention for himself by provoking other skippers and team owners or referring to his boat as a ‘shitbox’. All it does is embarrass himself and sadly, his very decent crew members.
“This is a serious race and the risks are high, so if he wants to be a clown he should stay out of the race and go to the circus or something on Boxing Day.”
Besides winning in 2016, Bell also claimed line honours in 2011.
At the launch on Wednesday, Beck also announced a charity partner, the Starlight Foundation, and that The Bachelor star Matty Johnson, who has been an ambassador for the charity since 2024, would be joining InfoTrack for the race.
