2024 Sydney Hobart – An afternoon jam session
by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS 27 Dec 2024 18:31 NZDT
26 December, 2024
Zhik partners with LawConnect © Andrea Francolini
As LawConnect makes her way ever closer to the finish at Battery Point in the 2024 Sydney Hobart and claim Line Honours, there is the matter of just under 200nm to cover, as at the time of writing.
Now she is almost abeam Bicheno in a very pretty part of Tasmania (and yes, there are many on the Apple Isle). Now Friendly Beaches is just below there, and they still have 10 knots NW, gusting to 17 as at 1600hrs AEDT.
One of the first points they have to get to in order to reach the third start (Tasman Island) is Maria Island and they have WNW at 20, gusting to 30 knots. That is way better than expected. And as for Tasman Island, it is identical, so game on it is! Just got to do it, and boy won’t they be trying.
Want some more? Dennes Point on the Western side of Storm Bay is WNW 15 knots gusting 27. Happy days for now, just got to do it all. No wiggle of the nose and it all happens here, or fleet of Chinooks to lift you up and place you back down. Just hard graft.
Make sense? Well take a look at this from Tasman Island - pick a direction all right. Wow. This will make it way hard, but then that is the joy...
Just have to talk about Mistral right now. Double-Handed, Rupert Henry and Corentin Douguet in the Lombard 34 are in 17th place overall. Wow. Handing over six or more feet to everyone in front of you, and they’re all fully crewed. Tip the hat!
Overall under IRC, Celestial V70 has it from Caro and LawConnect. In Div0 it is Celestial from LawConnect and Wild Thing 100. Div1 is Caro, Smuggler and Ocean Crusaders J-Bird, the latter is Gen One TP, BTW. Div2 is Bruce Taylor’s Chutzpah and boy is that crew no stranger to the podium and they will have amassed over 300 Hobarts between by the time they finish. Happy Wanderer and White Noise are in behind them.
Div3 is Solace who have been sending us great videos you can see in our show each day, then Cocody from France and Ragtime. Div4 Titlting at Windmills over Supernova and Navy One, with Gizomo, the great Wendy Tuck with Meg Niblett in fourth.
Div5 remains Maritimo Katwinchar, then Jupiter and Inukshuk, and all of them are from the Double-Handed fleet. The orderis the same for the special fleet’s own scorecard.
The race has continued, and at the time of writing there were 82 vessels still racing with 21 retirements; -
• Alive - Retired - engine issues
• Bacchanal - Retired - broken boom
• Bowline - Retired
• Calibre 12 - Retired - mainsail damage
• Centennial 7 - Retired - mainsail damage
• Ciao Bella - Retired - steering issues
• Flying Fish Arctos - Retired
• Georgia Express - Retired - electrical issues
• Master Lock Comanche - Retired - mainsail damage
• Mayfair - Retired - broken equipment
• Philosopher - Retired - dismasted
• Porco Rosso - Retired
• Pretty Woman - Retired at sea - headstay foil damage
• Quetzalcoatl - Retired - crew injury
• Rum Rebellion (DH) - Retired - equipment damage
• The Shepherd Centre - Retired - engine issue
• Transcendence Rudy Project (DH) - Retired - dismasted
• URM Group - Retired - dismasted
• Verite (DH) - Retired - electrical issues
• Wild Oats - Retired - rigging damage
• Zeus - Retired - foil damage
Please enjoy your yachting, stay safe, and thanks for tuning into Sail-World.com
Watch LawConnect Live streamed for the entire race.
What else have Sail-World.com written about the 2024 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race?