Sydney Hobart - Comanche leads but Oats XI keeps the rubber band on

by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World Team on 27 Dec 2014 For the last 18 hours, there has been never more than three nautical miles between the new kids on the block, Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze Clark's Comanche with Ken Read skippering the boat with distinction and the Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI. Mark Richard's who was blown away by Comanche's reaching speed inside the harbour has been hunting the race leader relentlessly as the two boats beat south in easing conditions.

Mark Richards told Sunrise this morning 'We are sailing in south westerly at the moment and the wind will be moving to the west as the day goes on and those reaching conditions will suit Comanche more than us and it will be hard to hold onto them for the next 12-15 hours.'

Right now both boats are trying to get into Bass Strait before the Victorian coast becomes a parking lot as the big high pressure system approaches.

The two leaders are two hundred miles south of Sydney, abeam of Pambula, 30 miles north of Green Cape. (The official declaration point before yachts launch into Bass Strait.)

The race between the two boats is tightening, Comanche’s lead an hour ago was more than a mile, then that halved, they have been as close as 40 boat lengths apart.

A short while ago Comanche has begun to dance away again, but now Wild Oats is once more closing the gap, with half a knot more boat speed. (12.9 knots compared to 12.4 knots)

The rubber band it seems is holding them together and its likely to do so unless Oats XI can sneak into the lead then break away as she has done a number of times in her seven line honours wins.

Eight miles astern of the race leaders, Ragamuffin 100 and Perpetual Loyal are engaged in a similar neck-and-neck struggle.

Andrew Crowe reported to the Rolex media centre from Ragamuffin just after 6.00am: “We’ve just caught up with Perpetual Loyal. We’ve had a backwards and forwards night; we probably went a little too close to shore. We’re in good shape though, and keeping a good eye on them.

“The sea is still a little lumpy, we’re getting 10-12 knots from the south, and it’s starting to go west and light as predicted.

“Through the night it was stronger away from the coast – 9 to 10 knots, but the sea was better closer in,” Crowe said.

Only a couple of hundred metres separate Ragamuffin 100 (Syd Fischer) and Perpetual Loyal (Anthony Bell) while five and eight miles astern of them are the two V70s, Black Jack (Peter Harburg) and Giacomo, Jim Delegat’s New Zealand entry respectively, fighting out round two of their own private duel after Black Jack won round one narrowly last year.

Breaking news just before this morning's radio sked Loyal reported to Race Control that she was retiring. Latest news is that she suffered some hull damage overnight.

Five and six miles away, Manouch Moshayedi’s RIO 100 is toughing it out with Philip Turner’s RP66, Alive.

It is early days to look at overall contenders, but this morning Roger Hickman had his 29 year-old Farr 43 Wild Rose in the lead. Ariel, Ron Forster’s Beneteau 40 was in second place, Imagination, Robin and Annette Hawthorn’s Beneteau 47.7 was third and three-time overall winner, Love & War, the S&S47 owned by Simon Kurts was in fourth place.

With conditions easing throughout the night, there were no further retirements since Brindabella and Last Tango last evening, leaving 110 of the original 117 still racing.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast suggests winds will ease further today; the fleet can expect about a 10 knot east to south-easterly becoming north-easterly at 10-15 knots in the late afternoon.