Rolex Sydney Hobart Race 2011

Start 26. Dezember 2011 - Sydney
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December 27, 2011
Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race http://regattanews.com/event.aspx?eid=190
Sydney/Hobart, Australia

Wild Oats 27.12.
Foto: Daniel Forster/Rolex

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December 27, 2011
Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race http://regattanews.com/event.aspx?eid=190
MAKE OR BREAK NIGHT Ahead

At 1640 local time (0540 UTC) the leading maxi boats in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race were just over half way across Bass Strait, having spent the day making reasonable progress in southwesterly winds that have been slowly dropping off from the 30 knots they saw last night and into this morning.

Ian ‘Fresh’ Burns, co-navigator on line honours leader Wild Oats XI reported this afternoon there being 10-15 knots of wind from the southwest and this was allowing them to point “around 20 degrees low” of the Tasman Light (marking the entrance to Storm Bay still some 250 miles away). As a result they were further east than they might otherwise be. “It has been pretty good so far. We haven’t been becalmed or even slowed down. This is pretty much the lightest wind we have seen so far this trip.”

However Burns added that they were preparing for a most difficult night ahead. “It is going to be really really tough because we have a patch of light wind to fight our way through to get to the Tasmanian coast.” This is likely to involve a hitch west, which will happen if, as forecast, the wind backs into the southeast. Burns says they will then be aiming for a narrow band of favourable northerlies off the Tasman coast. Alas, there is one problem. “Between us and them there is a large 50-60 mile wide stretch of no wind and how we negotiate that and how that moves is really going to decide what we get.”

In addition to this since leaving Sydney Harbour yesterday Wild Oats XI has had a constant thorn in her side in the form of Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal maxi. Over the course of today Loyal has dropped back to being 18 miles astern (in terms of distance to finish) but this is because she has been heading further east, with around 20 miles west-east split between the two yacht’s tracks this afternoon.
“It is going to be really difficult,” continued Burns. “Knowing the guys on Loyal as well as we do - Stan Honey and Michael Coxon - we know they will be throwing everything at us if it goes light, because when you are leading and the wind stops, the boat behind has a bunch of options to go around either side. I can see those guys plotting and scheming all evening to put us in a tough spot, but we will all be working our absolute hardest to keep things going. The guys are right now all concentrating on getting some rest while the boat is sailing along nicely to make sure we are in good shape tonight to throw everything at them that we need to.”

Tonight will be a lottery, or “nervous times” as Burns puts it. A couple of knots of difference in wind strength with a maxi can mean the difference of stuck at 0 knots or making 5 knots. Burns anticipates their arrival in Hobart tomorrow night before sunset, however if tonight does not go well then it could be Thursday morning, in which case Wild Oats XI’s seventh Rolex Sydney Hobart could also be her slowest ever.

Preparing for Bass Strait
Meanwhile the bulk of the fleet, from the 52 footers back, have spent the afternoon tight into the New South Wales coast. This is to enable them to set out into the powerful southwesterlies as they embark on their crossing of Bass Straight tonight, on the best possible course.
“Right now we have got about 16-18 knots and we are close reaching, with the no2 and full index, approaching Gabo Island, about another 40 miles from here,” reported Dirk Johnson, navigator on Rives Potts’ 1969-built Carina. “We have a number of boats around us, all paralleling each other, waiting for the southwesterly breeze to come around the corner.”

According to Johnson, last night was bumpy, but in terms of wind strength he doesn’t remember seeing more than 29 knots. “It was a little uncomfortable. There were some bigger waves than we are used to seeing, but everyone did good and we held on and we had a good night.”

Johnson was looking forward to getting into the favourable current offshore tonight, but anticipated the wind generally getting lighter while a large meteorological question mark hangs over the rest of the race. As he states: “The situation changes dramatically from day to night and depending on where you cross the Strait, at different points on the Strait you can have different conditions. We are ready for everything I guess.”

While earlier the maxis were leading under IRC, as they have slowed so the smaller boats have pulled up the handicap standings. With Carina – which just four and a half months ago on the opposite side of the world, won her class in the Rolex Fastnet Race - up to third, so Roger Hickman’s 1985 Farr 43 Wild Rose is back in front again, from Stephen Ainsworth’s much tipped Reichel Pugh 62, Loki in second. The Beneteau 40 footers - Lunchtime Legend, Balance, Two True and Victoire - currently just north of Eden this afternoon, reindex in the top 10.

Jessica Watson

Fans of 18 year old Australian solo round the world sailor Jessica Watson will also be pleased to hear that her teenage team on Ella Bache is the top Sydney 38 under IRC (albeit fourth in class). Her crew of eight, including fellow youth solo round the world sailor, Britain’s Mike Perham, have been training for the Rolex Sydney Hobart for the last three months, a schedule that included a dry run, sailing their pink boat from Sydney to Hobart and back three weeks ago.
“We are quite excited because the forecast is similar to the forecast we had for our practice run,” says Watson, shortly before leaving yesterday. “So we’ve experienced almost those exact same conditions.”

Watson and her crew are aiming to be the youngest crew to complete the Rolex Sydney Hobart. However Watson says she has higher expectations. “We put a lot of time and energy into this, so we’ll be here to perform as well as possible particularly within our own division.”

This afternoon has seen four more retirements, leaving 81 boats still racing. The GP42 Duende pulled out after crewman Tom Wormald suffered a dislocated shoulder and was dropped ashore. Later Sam Chan’s Hong Kong-based TP52 Ffreefire 52, skippered by Anthony Day, headed back to Sydney after suffering indexsail problems. Finally Matthew Percy’s Beneteau First 44.7 Alacrity suffered rigging damage and was putting into Eden while Jonathan Stone’s Davidson 34Illusion had hull damage and was returning to Sydney.

How To Follow Event
Further information on the Rolex Sydney Hobart may be found at www.rolexsydneyhobart.com http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/
Alex Bocage
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video http://regattanews.com/gallery.aspx?ctid=2&year=2011&cid=19762&eid=190&clid=0 Bass Strait Challenge Day 2’s action at the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart sees the fleet negotiate the fickle Bass Strait audio http://regattanews.com/gallery.aspx?ctid=1&year=2011&cid=19760&eid=190&clid=0 Cat and Mouse game - Ian Burns live from WILD OATS XI James Boyd http://regattanews.com/gallery.aspx?ctid=1&year=2011&cid=19761&eid=190&clid=0 Navigator Dirk Johnson live from CARINA (USA) James Boyd INTO BASS STRAIT

At 11:00 local (midnight UTC ), Wild Oats XI was leading the drive south in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. She was just setting out to cross Bass Strait with Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal 11 miles astern. These two have now broken away from the fleet with Peter Millard’s Lahana third, 39 miles off the lead.
Further back still, Alex Thomson’s IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss is fourth on the water, doing well to fend off the advances of Stephen Ainsworth’s all conquering Reichel Pugh 63, Loki.
Yesterday evening local time, the fleet saw the wind clock around through 180 degrees as the front passed overhead, the wind kicking in with some violence from the south, putting the boats hard on the wind.

As Mike Broughton, navigator on Chris Bull’s Cookson 50 Jazz recounted: “The front passed last night with quite a punch, with pelting rain that lasted for about 40 minutes, but kept things busy for Andy Hudson and the bow team, as we quickly had to change sails.” The rapid change in wind direction, and with the wind now counter to the south-going current, has kicked up an evil sea. Broughton described this as being 3-4m high, short and confused.

In the all-important IRC handicap battle for the Tattersall’s Cup, nothing clear is transpiring yet. At the time of writing Wild Oats XI, the biggest fastest boat in the fleet, had eased ahead, but previously leading had been the 1985-built Farr 43 Wild Rose, winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart in 1993 and skippered by race veteran Roger Hickman. The smaller Beneteaus were also performing well – in particular Darryl Hodgkinson’s much tipped Beneteau First 45 Victoire, Paul Clitheroe’s 45 Balance and Andrew Saies on his 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart winning First 40, Two True.
At present the bulk of the fleet are still hugging the New South Wales coast where the wind is in the south and they are hard on the wind. However conditions have momentarily improved for the maxis out in Bass Strait where the wind, currently blowing 25-30 knots, has veered into the southwest allowing the boats to head south on starboard tack. But the forecast is indicating stop-start progress for the 100 footers. The wind is due to fizzle out this afternoon (local time) as a small bubble of high pressure eases east off the coast of Tasmania. But once the high gets offshore, some northerly pressure could build close in to the Tasman coast, allowing the big boats to forge south once more.

Despite a first testing night at sea, to date there have only been three retirements from 88 starters. Just before midnight local time Sam Haynes’ Rogers 46 Celestial withdrew having suffered a broken gooseneck, while Marc and Louis Ryckmans GP42 Accenture (Yeah Baby) pulled out with unspecified gear failure.

Hot off the press is that 2003 line honours winner, Grant Warrington ‘s Wild Thing is the latest retirement, having suffered sail damage. At the time of her pulling out she was holding third place on the water.

How To Follow Event Further information on the Rolex Sydney Hobart may be found at www.rolexsydneyhobart.com http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/ Follow @regattanews https://twitter.com/regattanews

http://regattanews.com/photo.aspx?cid=19741&eid=190&clid=0 http://regattanews.com/photo.aspx?cid=19736&eid=190&clid=0 http://regattanews.com/photo.aspx?cid=19737&eid=190&clid=0 http://regattanews.com/photo.aspx?cid=19739&eid=190&clid=0 http://regattanews.com/photo.aspx?cid=19721&eid=190&clid=0 http://regattanews.com/photo.aspx?cid=19735&eid=190&clid=0 video http://regattanews.com/gallery.aspx?ctid=2&year=2011&cid=19730&eid=190&clid=0 Setting Off From Sydney The 67th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race commenced after a typically tactical start line battle