Four hundred-foot racers and Bryon Ehrhart's 88-foot Juan K design "Lucky" formed the front of the fleet around six hours after the start of the 80th Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. Soon after the starting signal at 1 pm local time (3 am German time), the line honours title holder "LawConnect" initially took the lead at the Sydney Heads on Boxing Day. After around five and a half hours, however, Matt Allan and James Mayo's "Master Lock Comanche" was narrowly ahead.
First "LawConnect", then "Master Lock Comanche" at the front
The rumour that a 250,000 dollar bet had been made before the start of the race that "LawConnect" would be the first boat to leave Sydney Heads was denied by owner Christian Beck in a phone call during the race. "We thought it was crazy, but as it turned out, it wasn't crazy at all - even if it was just a rumour," said Beck, but confirmed that the story had been circulating ashore before the start.
According to the race tracker, "LawConnect" held a narrow lead exiting Sydney Heads, but the favoured heavyweights behind her were catching up. Beck admitted that this position had surprised him, especially given the conditions at the start. "I was very surprised because it was a downwind start and 'Master Lock Comanche' is usually faster downwind," explained Beck.
Beck also revealed how important small differences can be, even with 100-foot boats. His observation: the spinnaker on "LawConnect" was set around 20 seconds before that on the main rival "Master Lock Comanche". The smaller, but always fast "Lucky" provided excitement in the top of the fleet loaded with 100-foot projectiles.
America's Cup pros on "Lucky"
In fourth place, the 27-metre yacht initially mixed well with the "big boys". Her crew is outstanding with America's Cup veteran Brad Butterworth, Star Boat World Champion Hamish Pepper, Spanish star navigator Juan Vila and many other well-known professionals. The overall winner from last year is also very promising into the famous long haul Celestial V70" had secured seventh place after the first few hours, which was worth second place in the IRC standings at the time.
At this early stage of the race, the 18.5 metre long Frers 61 "MRV. Jost Stollmann's "Alithia" was in 26th place in the line honours ranking around six hours after the starting signal, which was worth fourth place in the group of 25 boats in the PHS ranking group for the time being. Here it goes to the intermediate results of the race in list format. To the Tracker here.
The crew on Bruce Tardrew's "Yendys" suffered an early disappointment in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. They were the first to retire after their backstay broke just before the 10-minute warning signal. It was a huge blow for the crew to have to retire before the start. "Unbelievable!" commented one crew member after returning to the marina of the host Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.
Rolex Sydney Hobart Race: Rose petals for the victims of terrorism
The team on "Sumatra" temporarily interrupted the race to fix a hydraulic problem. Three other yachts had retired by 9 a.m. German time. The remaining fleet of 125 boats had to contend with strong southerly winds and high swells. The conditions made for rough riding. The organisers had warned of cold, wet and heavy seas before the start of the race.
Several crews had scattered rose petals into the sea as they passed Bondi Beach as a tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack in Bondi. The fleet sailed further south along the coast of New South Wales and Victoria on Boxing Day, then across the Bass Strait, into Storm Bay and up the Derwant River to the finish line off Hobart. The generally favourable winds meant that the 100-foot maxis were expected to race for around two days, arriving in Hobart on 28 December. However, the conditions are unlikely to allow a new race record.
