Tight at top as Syd-Hob fleet braces for bumpy night
Jasper Bruce |
Line-honours favourite Master Lock Comanche has led the Sydney to Hobart fleet into what is expected to be a rough first night down the NSW coast.
Back-to-back line-honours champion LawConnect was first out of the Sydney Heads about 1.10pm on Boxing Day, but surrendered her lead tacking out to sea after 6pm.
A snapped halyard also helped Comanche close the gap on LawConnect in her hunt for redemption, having retired from last year’s Sydney-Hobart with mainsail damage.
At 10pm on Friday, Christian Beck’s 100ft supermaxi was about a mile behind Comanche, east of Ulladulla on the NSW south coast.
Line-honours dark horse SHK Scallywag and American entrant Lucky were in closest pursuit behind the two red-hot supermaxis.
Predictions of retirements in tough conditions had already come to fruition for the fleet, with five yachts withdrawing on the first afternoon of the race’s 80th running.
Hutchies Yeah Baby (damaged headstay foil), White Noise (rigging issues) and two-hander Inukshuk (rudder problem) had all retired by 5pm.
They joined Yendys on the sidelines, the Queensland yacht pulling out with a broken backstay about 10 minutes before the starting gun sounded in Sydney Harbour.
Silver Fern had not yet officially retired from her fourth Hobart as of Friday evening, but turned back for unspecified reasons off the coast of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
At 10pm, 124 boats remained on the 628NM journey to Constitution Dock in Hobart.
First-time entrant Sumatra suffered hydraulic issues in Sydney Harbour and temporarily suspended racing to fix the issue before continuing.
The luxurious 78-footer Oroton Drumfire stopped in at Botany Bay for ad-hoc repairs but managed to sail on.
The incidents appeared to be only the beginning for the Hobart fleet, which is expected to grapple with strong southerlies throughout the first night of racing.
“It’s pretty rough out here,” Ocean Crusaders J-Bird co-skipper Annika Thomson told AAP earlier on Friday evening.
“The wind is between 18 and 25 (knots), depends on the squalls and all that. I think we saw 30 at one stage just in front of a rain squall, but otherwise it’s pretty around the 20s.”
One member of the crew aboard Thomson’s TP52 has already been sick amid conditions she described as “very bumpy”.
“Spirits are very good. We’ve had one chucker already, but hopefully that will be the last,” Thomson said.
Conditions are likely to become more intense overnight, with cold weather predicted, alongside swells between three and four metres.
It’s unlikely to be as treacherous as last year, when two sailors were killed in storms on a horror first night at sea.
But before racing began, Sam Haynes, skipper of the reigning overall winner Celestial V70, warned the fleet to be on their guard overnight.
“I think there will be retirements. It’s tough on boats in the early part of this race,” said Haynes, who is also commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.
“The crash-bang, the waves, the gear itself is going to be under stress, so it is a hard race in that sense.
“Also it’s hard on crews: seasickness and potentially some injuries. They can put boats out. I think there will be some retirements in these conditions.”
The fleet paid tribute to the victims of the Bondi terror attack by scattering rose petals off the coast of Bondi Beach as they passed early in the race.
At the final briefing, extra petals were made available, with Olympic champion and Sydney-Hobart debutant Ian Thorpe joining Beck in scattering them from LawConnect.
AAP
