Hobart Bound - The Great Race.

[tdw]

So there they go boys and girls, off to Hobart for New Year.

Beautiful day in Sydney, sun shining, birds singing, light under 10 knot nor easter saw them beating up the harbour in perfect conditions. Wild Oats with her brand new 45 metre mast and increased sail area took the lead from the start and with a bit of prodding from Leopard was first out the heads and is curently leading the field as they head down past Bondi Beach with Skandia in third place.

Keep up with the action at ...

http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/

Wild Oats, of course is chasing the hat trick having taken line honours in 2005 and 2006.

Ealier this morning we had the fun experience watching Leopard pull out of Woolwich and head down harbour. As she came to the bridge it was neat to watch that thing lean over by about 30 degrees as the weight of her canted keel allowed her to scrape under the bridge. She didn't slow down, didn't miss a beat. Good stuff.

Forecast is for NE 15-20 this afternoon leading into a light southerly change this evening before returning to NE. Race record is 1 day 18 hours (that requires a 14 knot average) so any record breaking will depend on how that Southerly works out.

[Sasha_V]

We were the Coast Guard boat for escorting Melbourne To Hobart fleet on its **** of the bay race...just got home. Took tons of photos, had a great time..am amazed by how stupid some spectator boats can be.

This year, for the first time, the Melb to Hob boats will be going down the EAST coast of Tas at the same time as the Syd to Hob boats...it is going to get crowded along the fresinet coast.



Sasha

[Valiente]

I hope they have a fast passage, and a safe one.

Thanks for the link.

[CharlieCobra]

Did they fix Maximus's keel?

[blt2ski]

The computer I am at is really slow, but noticed one of the big boys lost a mast....skandia 150 miles from the finish. Wild oats is close to a hat trick!

marty

[Sasha_V]

Grant dropped another mast?

That will teach him for yelling at me for no reason a few weeks ago.




Apparently he yells at almost everyone in Mornington in the weeks of getting the boat prepped. I am sure the cafe staff have PTSD by now.

[Sasha_V]

Okay, listened to the interview, at least he has the right spirit.

"We have not retired from the race and plan to finish just as soon as we can with a jury rig. At least we are not upside down and sinking this time, so there is no reason not to keep racing."

[Valiente]

Points for staying power.