Sydney to Hobart

[Rabbits20]

Im going to put updates on here tomorrow.

117 I believe are in the race this year.

I think Wild Oats will do it again by a decent margin. But I hope they don't and we see a different winner.

Last I heard there is going to be light winds in Bass Strait slowing the fleet down.

 

[Eddie Rattlehead]

Big time respect to the people that take part in this. There's no way you'd get me out there .

 

[Rabbits20]

Comanche the American yacht lead the fleet out of the heads and past Bondi.

Then Comanche and Wild Oats went further to sea to look to take advantage of the 25 knot winds.

Perpetual Loyal and Ragamuffin stayed closer to shore in a different tactic.

After 5h 30mins Loyal and Comanche are neck and neck.

Ragamuffin is 3rd 1 mile back. Wil Oats is 1 mile behind Ragamuffin in 4th.

They have a long 560nm to go.

 

[Rabbits20]

Out of the 117 yachts 7 have retired so far.

Tina of Melbourne: Hull damage
Bear Necessity: Rudder issue
Occasional Coarse Language: Steering problems
Willyama: Mainsail damage
Triton: Rig
Brindabella: Rudder Bearings
Last Tango: Sick crew and sail damage, after dropping sick crew member off at Botany Bay resumed race but retired soon after.

The Strong southerlies in the afternoon and evening are really making it tough going for the medium and smaller yachts.

The other small and medium yachts are getting battered and will have to do well to avoid issues in the night.

 

[Rabbits20]

Line Honours update:

1. Comanche 490nm to go
2. Wild Oats 2.8 miles behind Comanche 492.8 to go
3. Ragamuffin 5 miles behind Wild Oats 497.8 to go.
4. Loyal 1.5 miles behind Ragamuffin 499.3 to go.

Behind these 4 are 70 footer yachts Giacomo and Black Jack. They are in a very tight battle with only half a nautical mile separating them.

In the night at around 3-4am the winds are meant to become lighter slowing the leaders down.

It will be hard for the rest of the fleet tomorrow trying to generate speed on the smaller yachts


Currently Comanche is 16nm South of Batemans Bay.

 

[Rabbits20]

Super maxi Loyal has retired.

Hull damage.

It's understood though Loyal want to continue heading towards Hobart.

I reckon they won't make it and have to head to a port.

 

[Rabbits20]

Just confirmed Loyal is heading back to Sydney. Hopefully they don't have any issues coming back.

Loyal think they hit something late last night and couldn't tell more until this morning.

They had been taking on water on board due to the Hull damage.

 

[andrew057]

Whos the favourite for handicap honours at the moment?

 

[Rabbits20]

Line honours update:

Wild Oats and Comanche are pretty much even at the front after 21 hours racing.

Ragamuffin is in 3rd 23nm behind the leaders.

Black Jack is 4th 3nm behind Ragamuffin. Black Jack is a QLD yacht.

Giacomo is 5th 6nm behind Black Jack. Giacomo is a NZ yacht.


Wil Oats and Comanche are about to head into Bass Strait both with 400nm to go.

There are lighter winds at the moment which should favour Wild Oats who are expected to pull ahead a bit.

Too early to predict handicap.

 

[Rabbits20]

Whos the favourite for handicap honours at the moment?

It's too early to tell at the moment. It keeps changing. Depends how racing goes today.

Victoire won it last year and are trying to do it again.

Hopefully late this afternoon and into the early evening tonight there will be an idea of who have the best chances at handicap.

I will try to update handicap then.

Also there is expected to be no wind at all today off the Victorian Coast so that makes it harder to tell with medium and smaller yachts going to slow down a lot.

 

[andrew057]

Cheers Rabbits20. Ive got a bet on OneSails Racing for the handicap win, so im trying to keep an eye on it.

 

[Rabbits20]

I actually just found an update on handicap.

Wild Rose leading.
Ariel 2nd
Imagination 3rd
Love and War 4th

But that will all change.

Lighter winds today with wind picking picking up late this afternoon.

 

[Rabbits20]

Cheers Rabbits20. Ive got a bet on OneSails Racing for the handicap win, so im trying to keep an eye on it.

Good luck.

Is it a decent chance to win handicap or an outside chance?

 

[Rabbits20]

Not looking good at moment mate.

OneSails Racing is 53rd on handicap.

They are only going at 2 knots in very light wind.

They are 10th for line honours.

 

[andrew057]

They were paying $12.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Rabbits20]

They were paying $12.

Fingers crossed.

Up to 11th now on handicap.

Things can change quickly on handicap.

Pushed up to 9th on line honours as well.

 

[Rabbits20]

Line Honours Update

Wild Oats and Comanche are still in a close battle.

Wild Oats is ahead of Comanche by 8nm.

Going through Bass Strait winds are still light which is favouring Wild Oats.

Comanche will be quicker than Wild Oats in stronger winds which are meant to come through in the next 2 hours. 15-20 knots.

Currently Wild Oats going at 9.8 knots
Comanche going at 6 knots.

 

[Rabbits20]

40-50nm from the 2 leading yachts on line honours things have changed.

There are 10 yachts now all within 8nm of each other.

Some of them are heading out to sea further looking for wind and some are staying closer to the coast.

The fact there hasn't been much wind has really tightened things up.

3. Rio 100
4. Alive
5. Ragamuffin 100
6. Ichi Ban
7. Caro
8. Giacomo
9. OneSails Racing
10. Black Jack
11. Southern Excellence 2
12. Wedgetail

So the lead Black Jack and Giacomo had on the others this morning has disappeared with other yachts 15-20nm away all having caught up.

 

[Eddie Rattlehead]

So when are they expected to finish?

 

[Rabbits20]

So when are they expected to finish?

It's hard to say there is light wind at the moment. Meant to pick up in next hour but wind will die down a lot around midnight and through until tomorrow morning.

Forecast could change but 1st yacht probably in around 3pm tomorrow afternoon.

Wild Oats isn't halfway yet.

Still 345nm to go out of the 628 for Wild Oats.

Comanche is 13nm behind Wild Oats.

When wind picks up Comanche are better and are expected to close the gap on Wild Oats.