4:07 AM Mon 28 Dec 2009 GMT
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'Tailenders in the L2H fleet sailing off Georgetown on the passage from Beauty Point to Low Head'
Peter Campbell ©
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Less than half a sea mile separated the three yachts, The Fork in the Road, Mr Kite and 42 South, at 12 noon today as they ran down the Tasmanian East under spinnakers at the head of the fleet in the Sargisons Jewellers Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race.
The record 35 yachts in the fleet which set sail from Beauty Point on the Tamar River at 1pm yesterday made good progress in light north-westerly winds over night and this morning have enjoyed fast sailing in a freshening 10-12 knot nor'easter.
At 12 noon, the Derwent Sailing Club's tracking system, OceanTrack.com.au, plotted Gary Smith and Geoff White's 45-footer The Fork in the Road six nautical miles east-south-east of Bicheno and making 10.6 knots southward to the Freycinet Peninsula.
She was only 0.3 nm ahead of Mr Kite, Andrew Hunn's Cape 40, with only a hundred metres or so to Mark Ballard's Stompcraft 38, 42 South, which has revelled in the light winds.
These three yachts have a break of about ten sea miles over Whistler, skippered by David Rees and Cyclone (Steph Keal), which were just north of Bicheno.
Then came the first of the Beneteau 40.7s, Richard Fisher's Blue Sky, followed by Sullivans Cove Whisky (Dianne Barkas), Host Plus Executive (Jeff Cordell) which were just ahead of the Tamar Yacht Club's 30-footer Kingsmeadows Chemist, skippered by Sebastian Verbeeten. Right up with them was David Taylor's Pisces which has made up considerable ground after being stuck in the mud soon after the start yesterday.
Although the freshening nor'easter is now giving the fleet a rollicking ride down the East Coast, first boat to finish the L2H race is not likely to cross the line off Castray Esplanade, Hobart, until the early hours of tomorrow morning.
by Peter Campbell
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Manly, QLD
