Sailing the High Seas

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ALIVE is a 66-foot canting keel Reichel Pugh racing yacht. She is currently racing out of Brisbane and registered with the Derwent Sailing Squadron in Tasmania. The yacht was purchased at the beginning of 2014 by Tasmanian businessman and entrepreneur Phillip Turner. It is skippered by a Tasmanian, Duncan “Dunk” Hine, running a generally non-professional crew of Brisbane and Tasmanian sailors.

The yacht fits into the “mini-maxi” size category. However, her narrow and light hull combined with powerful Southern Spars rig makes her a technically advanced and challenging boat.

Duncan Hine is indeed ALIVE’s skipper. He started sailing at eight-years-old in Hobart on SAVOTs (8ft dinghies that many kids in Oz learned to sail on). He did International Cadets and when he was 14, his father, Barry, his sailing inspiration, bought a19ft keelboat, without a motor. Duncan was allowed to take it out once he could lift the mooring and put it back on safely. He used to sail up and down the Derwent River to Dennes Point, promising to buy girls ice cream if they came along for the ride.

At age 18, he started doing yacht deliveries, primarily half-ton racing boats across the Bass Strait (the Devil’s Triangle of Australia), which eventually took him back into racing. He prided himself on his seamanship, not his racing ability.

Duncan says harmony amongst the crew is pivotal. On ALIVE, he tries to keep a core crew of five for every regatta, including himself, Gavin “Gav” Brady (Sailing Master), Shane Gaddes (trimmer), Sam Tiedemann (crew), & Fynley Harding, most of whom have one at least one Sydney-Hobart victory with him.

In his 30s, Duncan taught sailing (AYS and then RYA) for about a decade at the Derwent Sailing Squadron Yacht Cub. That is where he taught Phillip Turner, the owner of Alive to sail. Over time, Philip and Duncan became close. Duncan, however, did not see a future as a professional sailor, so he did a variety of jobs including being a carpenter, and a landlord.

Phillip owned a 22-ton Carbineer 46 ketch and a Lagoon 57, that he kept in Hobart, and Duncan helped with the upkeep. In 2005, the pair hired Xena, an Open 60 yacht (that had been stretched to 66ft) and they finished 5th in IRC in the Sydney-Hobart.

In 2013, Phillip approached Duncan and his wife Kate, a fellow Tasmanian, about securing a boat that could win the Sydney-Hobart race. Duncan’s first question was “line honours or handicap”? The answer was on handicap so he employed a naval architect, Fred Barrett, to help him find an appropriate boat somewhere in the world. The first boats they considered were TP52s, a particularly hot class at the time, and historically successful, but there were no good options available. Incidentally, during this time, Duncan kept crossing paths with Mark Bradford, skipper of the Reichel Pugh 66 Blackjack. Bradford told him that Peter Harburg had recently bought a Volvo 70, which meant that the R/P66 Blackjack could be up for sale. Duncan and Fred thought the R/P 66 Blackjack could work out quite well, as it was tidy, and had recently been refitted. It even had a new Southern Spars mast. Duncan spent a week preparing for the negotiations, and the deal was soon struck.

The R/P 66, rechristened ALIVE, was launched in 2006, and built by Westerly Marine in San Diego. She started life as Stark Raving Mad (owned by Jim Madden) until Peter Harburg brought her to Australia in 2008. As Blackjack she had sailed in in the Sydney-Hobart race as well as a number of other regattas.

As ALIVE they won the first regatta they raced in, Sail Paradise on the Gold Coast. ALIVE then went on to win Sydney-Hobart in 2018 and 2023 with the second win being more satisfying in many ways, proving they were not just lucky the first time around. In 2018, a few issues could have upset the apple cart, so they waited around 12 hours before being confirmed as the winner on corrected time. In 2023, they knew as soon as they crossed the line, dispelling any hint of “luck”.
Duncan says he needs at least six weeks of racing time on the water a year to campaign ALIVE properly, plus much more time in maintenance. The yacht has a great rivalry with sister ship Wild Oats 10.

ALIVE sailed its first Sydney-Hobart in 2014, and then toured Southeast Asia in 2015, participating in the Raja Muda, King’s Cup Langkawi regattas. It was back at the Sydney-Hobart again in 2016; toured Southeast Asia in 2017 Asia and them won its first Sydney-Hobart in 2018. It was supposed to compete in the Raja Muda and King’s Cup regattas again late in 2025, but was hit by lightning coming out of Langkawi and had to spend a couple months on the hard before she was ready for the Langkawi regatta.  amazingly has won more times that it has lost.

Duncan says that Southeast Asia has some the most fun regattas in the world, noting that people in this part of the world know how to stage a party.
Next up for ALIVE was the 600nm South China Sea Race, where it finished first with line hours. Next up is the Samui Regatta, Hamilton Island, the Big Boats series and Sydney-Hobart. Every time you go out it is an adventure.

Fellow Sailors that Duncan respects include Peter “Fletch” Fletcher and crewmate Gavin Brady. Inspirations, include Joshua Slocum, stretching back to the days when he first wanted to sail around the world in his cruising days. He also admired Bernard Moitessier for his free will and love of sailing.

Technical specifications
Name: Alive
Design: 2006 Reichel/Pugh 66 CUSTOM
Sail number: 52566
Crew: 14-16
Length hull: 20.24m
Length overall: 22m
Draft: 4.5m
Weight; 11,770kg
Handicaps: ORCi, IRC
(For more information: have a look at https://www.aliveyachting.com/ & https://www.facebook.com/Aliveyachting)