SYDNEY (AP) — Favorable northerly winds have helped propel the four leading super maxis in the Sydney to Hobart race through the notorious Bass Strait and nearing the coastline of the island state of Tasmania and still within sight of race record time on Tuesday.
After 24 hours of racing, Andoo Comanche holds a lead of about 12 nautical miles from LawConnect and Black Jack, with Hamilton Island Wild Oats a further six nautical miles behind in fourth.
The leading super maxis are not on the record pace of LDV Comanche of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds in 2017, but an expected strengthening of favorable tailwinds of potentially 30 knots could help propel the leaders to threaten the mark, but also carried a higher risk of damage to the boats.
“The breeze is going to increase this afternoon and it’s going increase quite dramatically and that could see Comanche, particularly, break the record,” Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore, Arthur Lane said. “They might start slowing down because you don’t want the damage, you want to get Hobart.”
“You don’t want to fall off a wave and break something, it’s terminal if it breaks, the end of your race. The waves are going to get bigger and certainly the speeds are going to be very testing.”
The benign conditions have led to only two retirements from the starting fleet of 109 boats.
The 40-foot, two-handed boat Avalanche pulled out with a broken bowsprit shortly after the start and Yeah Baby was forced out with rudder damage after being hit by a sail fish late Monday.
“The collision impact pushed the back end of the rudder into the hull and it was apparent there was very little we could do,” Yeah Baby skipper Lois Ryckmans said. “On the high list of worries that one has, marine life did not occur to me once.
“Sunfish obviously don’t have their sonar turned on, but it was huge. I think the name is incorrect. It’s a sun leviathan, it’s a sun monster, it’s no fish.”
At Monday’s start, line honors favorite Andoo Comanche overcame a self-imposed penalty turn amid a dramatic opening to the race to take the lead as the fleet benefited from northeasterly winds.
Watched by a large spectator fleet, with tens of thousands more onlookers lining the shore of the picturesque Sydney Harbour, the action unfolded quickly just moments after the starting gun.
Andoo Comanche took a penalty turn inside the first few minutes after hitting a marker buoy. The boat was later seen flying a protest flag but the crew has not provided detail of the incident.
Hamilton Island Wild Oats took their penalty turn shortly later but only after a debate between skipper Mark Richards and other senior crew members for a reason that was not immediately clear.
Despite the early drama on Monday, race organisers reported a clean start across all four lines of boats, which took place in warm sunshine after heavy early morning fog had hung over the harbor and limited visibility.
The 628 nautical-mile race (1,170 kilometers, or about 720 miles) sails from Sydney down the south coast of New South Wales state and across Bass Strait to Hobart, the capital of the island state of Tasmania.
Black Jack, skippered by Mark Bradford, won last year, arriving at Constitution Dock in Hobart after two days, 12 hours, 37 minutes.
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