Rolex Sydney Hobart YACHT Race: "Rockall VIII" crew in the final sprint - "Not hard, but very challenging"

For many teams, the 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is like an ongoing rollercoaster ride through the results lists. Due to the frequently changing wind conditions on the 628 nautical mile course, the IRC overall standings are constantly shifting according to calculated time. Christopher Opielok and his crew on the JPK 10.80 "Rockall VIII" have also experienced this over the past few days.

At one point, the team with skipper Christopher Opielok, co-skipper Felix Oehme, sailmaker Klaas Simon and other British and Australian sailors had climbed up to eighth place in the IRC rankings, only to fall back down into the 30s again in more sluggish waters. At midday German time on Friday, the seven-man crew was 21st in the constantly changing IRC rankings on course for Hobart.

"The Bass Strait is done!" (Christopher Opielok)

At midday on 29 December, "Rockall VIII" still had around 120 nautical miles to go to the finish line. "The Bass Strait is done," said a delighted Christopher Opielok, who had set himself the goal of finishing the second attempt after his own early exit from the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2017 due to a broken rudder.

"We were in the doldrums and are now chasing Hobart under spinnaker," Opielok reported from the sea. The Hamburg native went on to write: "It will be windy again tonight." This last Australian night has already begun for the crew on "Rockall VIII" in Down Under. Opielok continued: "In Bass Strait, we experienced up to 38 knots and a lot of rain. We sailed rather conservatively. We are still doing well ..."

Beat all TPs, but missed the ambitious race target

Meanwhile, Max Klink's crew on the "Caro" reached Hobart as the fastest TP52 and ninth boat overall, rather disappointingly. The team wanted more this year and, after the overall victory of the JV TP52 "Celestial" last year, had thought they had a good chance in their own battle for the overall IRC victory and the Tattersall Cup.

"Caro's" New Zealand Sailing Master Justin Ferris said in Hobart: "There is always a competitive 52 fleet and it's nice to win this battle. However, we would have liked a better finish to our year. We've had a good year and it would have been nice to get this win as well. But it's damn hard to win the Tattersall Cup. A lot of people have tried for a long time..."

Dynamic fleet ensures ongoing shifts in earnings

With a lead of only around two and a half minutes over the strongly sailed TP52 "Smuggler" from Judel/Vrolijk, "Caro" was able to narrowly beat her class sister on the water, but had to settle behind the top 30 in the overall IRC rankings for the time being. Here, "Smuggler" was initially even ranked in the top 20. However, further major shifts are expected in the current race with the arrival of the following fleet.

At the top of the IRC overall standings, the "Alive" team of owner Philip Turner and skipper Duncan Hine are keeping a close eye on the action from Hobart. The Reichel Pugh 66 with Sailing Master Gavin Brady and top Australian navigator Adrienne Cahalan on her 30th(!) race was still the leading boat in the IRC overall standings on the fourth day of racing after the race had long since finished with a sailed time of 2 days, 2 hours, 19 minutes and 4 minutes and the resulting calculated time of 3 days, 7 hours, 48 minutes and 14 seconds.

Current forecasts do not suggest that the IRC victory of "Alive" can still be jeopardised. However, the windy fourth night in Down Under, which is already underway, could cause some movement in the standings. Click here for the tracker and the interim results.

The update from Down Under - this is what it looked like in the Christmas classic on the morning of 29 December:

This is where the "Rockall VIII" crew sent greetings to YACHT readers from the sea on the morning of 29 December: