#Sydney Hobart update – Irish interest is strongly on the front of the fleet in the 68th Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, with Bob Oatley's 100ft Wild Oats – navigated by Australian-Irish Adrienne Cahalan – comfortably on course for line honours, and challenging for a new record to beat the existing one the Oakley boat set in 2005.
The defending handicap champion, the 63ft Loki (Stephen Ainsworth), with Howth's Gordon Maguire as Sailing Master, is currently lying second on corrected time. Loki has had a great race, and is currently fifth on the water with many larger boats astern.
But the 66ft canting keel Reichel Pugh 66 Black Jack (Peter Harburg) is going even better. The Black Jack team have targeted Loki as the boat to beat, and the two boats came out of Sydney Harbour at the start glued together. However, the slightly larger and higher-rated Black Jack – whose crew has recently been boosted by the addition of Australia's rising superstar sailor Tom Slingsby – gradually opened out a slight lead, and as conditions favoured those who could get south the quickest into more suitable winds, the Harburg boat was able to lengthen away enough to be saving their time as they approach Tasmania.
Day 2 of the 2012 Rolex Sydney Hobart has so far played out as predicted. The largest yachts have profited hugely from the overnight swing in wind direction to the northeast; one yacht in particular. At 17:30AEDT five-time Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winner, Wild Oats XI, lay about 40 nautical miles ahead of her own record pace as she closed on Tasmania. In the process, she has brutally exposed the shortcomings of her competitors in straight-line speed sailing, even drawing out a 50nm lead over fellow maxi Ragamuffin Loyal.
Wild Oats XI appears on the cusp of a remarkable repeat of her 2005 triple-crown success: first boat home, new course record and overall win. Well in front of her rivals and the record on the water, all day long she has been trading the top handicap position with Peter Harburg’s Black Jack, according to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s position tracker. Harburg has his own history making in mind: to become the first yacht from Queensland to lift the Tattersalls’ Cup. He will not be getting over-excited. This being a yacht race, the organizers are a long way from inscribing names onto silverware.
Wild Oats XI’s dream run will come to an end as the second weather transition kicks in during the night. The wind is forecast to die and to gradually back to the west, before steadily building into an, at times, strong southwesterly. The timing of this change, and the ability of skipper Mark Richards’ tactical team to get though it with minimum disruption, will determine the eventual outcome. Wild Oats XI must finish before 07:40 AEDT tomorrow to break the record of one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds.Wild Oats XI, leading the fleet
For the smaller yachts yet to enter Bass Strait, the northeasterly looks likely to hang in until around midnight on 27 December. From then on the expected series of fronts moving through the Strait and across Tasmania will dramatically affect progress; buffeting the fleet north and south of island’s land mass, and at other times beguiling it with lighter, more fickle breeze, particularly in its lee.
