Sail-World.com : Melbourne to Hobarts - First in from the other side
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Melbourne to Hobarts - First in from the other side |
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'Jazz Player'
John Curnow/ORCV
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Heemskirk Consolidated Melbourne to Hobart West Coaster and East Coaster updates:
As the light and the wind faded from the Derwent River tonight Jazz Player skippered by Andrew Lawrence crossed the finish line to take Line Honours in the Westcoaster race. At 20.49:09 with an elapsed time of 3 days 5 hours 49 minutes and 09 seconds.
Struggling to hold their spinnaker to the line in the fading breeze, after slow progress up Storm Bay and up the river Lawrence is very happy to arrive in Hobart.
‘This morning we had a strong easterly which gave us the advantage because we were beating. We were second around Maatsuyker but it took us hours up Storm Bay. We were becalmed, take off, becalmed.’
From the start of this race there has been a group of boats that have battled for the lead. ‘We had a good lead out of the heads to King Island, then we were becalmed and joined by Icefire. We were in sight of Icefire and Tevake II for two thirds of the race. Going tack for tack we could see each other’s lights. This is our first time in this race, it (scenery) is very dramatic we enjoyed the race.
The crew were very anxious to get there. I bet they are stoked, now knowing what has happened to the others, who for the last three days have been within two miles or so of them...
Door closed for the Westcoasters for now.
There is a group of Eastcoasters that arrived at the Iron Pot virtually simultaneously, as it went dark.
Around the same time, the breeze also went to bed. INSX, Under Capricorn, No Fear, Merlion, The Secretary, Godzilla, Mirrabooka and Icefire from the Westcoaster fleet are sitting and revising ETAs regularly.
Long night ahead it would seem and all will dig deep in the mental reserves and tiredness barrel now. Speed humps that had affected some more than others could well be paying a visit to others soon and so the win some, loose some merry-go-round continues. Hope the water and biscuits still exist, so that the crews can keep going.
by John Curnow/Jennifer McGuigan
3:00 PM Wed 30 Dec 2009 GMT
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