6:31 AM Wed 30 Dec 2009 GMT
Protest hearings tomorrow will almost certainly decide the winner of the prestigious Tattersalls Cup for first placed yacht overall under IRC ratings in the 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Whatever the outcome, the winner will be the smallest overall winner of the 628 nautical mile ocean classic since the 30-footer Zeus II won in 1981.
Three yachts are clearly in the running for victory - two near-identical, brand new Beneteau First 40s, Two True and Wicked, which finished this morning, and one of the smallest boats in the fleet, the 33-footer Zephyr Hamilton Elevators, which is still at sea. Also in the running for a high place is the Tasmanian yacht Matangi.
The Rolex Sydney Hobart tracking system early this afternoon had Zephyr heading the IRC progressive corrected time results although she is still had more than 70 nautical miles to sail - and must finish before 1.31 am tomorrow to consolidate her position. Her current ETA is 11.59, but she faces the vagaries of a night sail up the River Derwent as the sea breeze fades.
The Farr-designed 33-footer, owned by James Connell and Alex Brandon from Sydney's Balmain Sailing Club and a divisional winner in 2007, has advised the Race Committee that she will lodge protests against three, as-yet un-named yachts.
Two Blue, one of three near identical, new generation Farr-designed Beneteau First 40s, already faces a protest from the Tasmanian yacht She's the Culprit which was forced to retire from the race after being holed above the waterline in a collision soon after the start of the race on Sydney Harbour,
Skippered by South Australian Andrew Saies, Two Blue won a virtual match race to Hobart with her sistership Wicked, skippered by Mike Welsh from Melbourne's Sandringham Yacht Club, the corrected time margin being 41 minutes and 25 seconds.
Currently, the overall standings place Zephyr in provisional first place ahead of Two Blue, David Stephenson's Frers 39 Matangi from the Tamar Yacht Club in northern Tasmania, and Wicked. Matangi is in Storm Bay, 4 nm east of Cape Raoul with a deadline of 7.49pm to finish and move to the top of the leader board. Her ETA is 7.59pm but will have the sea breeze to bring her up the Derwent,
If both Zephyr and Matangi fail to meet their time deadlines tonight, then Two Blue will move to the top as provisional winner, but she could lose the race if the protest hearing at 10am tomorrow, finds against her.
She's the Culprit was holed and taking water, and a crewman went overboard in the incident, with owner Leary considering the damage severe enough to warrant retiring from the race, although he did not do so immediately after the incident.
She's the Culprit's navigator Rod Chamberlain today told Sail-World.com: 'We were sailing along close to the exclusion zone on the southern side of the harbour with boats inside of us.
'A boat we later identified as Two True was close to us in heavy traffic; she turned to starboard and hit us midships on our starboard side with her port stern. We sailed on and she did a 720. After that we determined we had a hole in the boat we tacked away and then we retired from the race.'
A puzzling element of this matter is that at least one sailor who made a careful inspection of the port stern of Two True today has failed to identify any impact point.
The protest will be heard by an International Jury headed by Australian John Kirkjian and it is understood that She's the Culprit will call up to six witnesses to the incident. There is racing rules precedent for disqualification of a yacht that causes serious damage to another competitor and fails to retire herself or at least render assistance.
The last time a provisional winner of the Sydney Hobart lost first place on protest was in 1985 when a jury found Drake's Prayer, skippered by the late Peter Kurts, at fault in a minor collision with another yacht on Sydney Harbour soon after the start. Neither yacht lodged a protest against the other nor penalty turns were then not part of the rules of racing. However, a protest was lodged by a third party yacht not involved in the incident and was upheld.
Drake's Prayer was penalised a percentage of placings, dropping from first overall to about 10th in the fleet. The winner of the Tattersalls Cup that year was Sagacious, skippered by Gary Appleby, but because of an anomaly in the sailing instructions, the rest of the fleet did not move up a place and officially, there was no first place overall.
This has since been rectified and if Two Blue is penalised or disqualified, then the other yachts in the fleet will move up a place, thus leaving Wicked in with a chance of winning the Tattersalls Cup. This will be academic, of course, if Zephyr and Matangi beat the time limits tonight and are confirmed ahead of Two Blue and Wicked on corrected time.
|
At racetime 04:03:40 - 30 December 2009, 4:40pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EST. ELAPSED
|
|
EST. CORR.
|
|
|
YACHT NAME
|
DIV
|
LAT
|
LONG
|
DTG
|
SOG
|
COG
|
|
TIME
&
SPEED
|
H'CAP
|
TIME
&
SPEED
|
|
|
IRC Overall
|
|
|
|
1
|
Zephyr Hamilton Elevators
|
4
|
43? 03' S
|
148? 18' E
|
57.3
|
9.7
|
224
|
|
04:10:46:50
|
5.9
|
0.958
|
04:06:17:45
|
6.1
|
|
|
|
James Connell (2) NSW
|
17nm NE of Tasman Island
|
30 Dec, 11:46pm
|
|
|
|
|
Time to Win
|
04:12:31:10 31 Dec, 1:31am
|
|
|
|
2
|
Two True
|
4
|
Finished
|
|
03:23:49:03
|
6.6
|
1.085
|
04:07:57:43
|
6.0
|
|
|
|
Andrew Saies SA
|
|
30 Dec, 12:49pm
|
|
|
|
3
|
Matangi
|
4
|
43? 14' S
|
147? 41' E
|
27.3
|
4.3
|
276
|
|
04:07:04:48
|
6.1
|
1.011
|
04:08:12:50
|
6.0
|
|
|
|
David Stephenson (6) TAS
|
5nm W of Cape Raoul
|
30 Dec, 8:04pm
|
|
|
|
|
Time to Win
|
04:06:49:49 30 Dec, 7:49pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
Wicked
|
4
|
Finished
|
|
04:00:11:16
|
6.5
|
1.088
|
04:08:39:08
|
6.0
|
|
|
|
Mark Welsh VIC
|
|
30 Dec, 1:11pm
|
|
|
|
5
|
Love & War
|
4
|
43? 15' S
|
147? 48' E
|
31.7
|
8.1
|
276
|
|
04:07:28:04
|
6.1
|
1.02
|
04:09:32:14
|
6.0
|
|
|
|
Simon Kurts (2) NSW
|
1nm SE of Cape Raoul
|
30 Dec, 8:28pm
|
|
|
|
|
Time to Win
|
04:05:55:23 30 Dec, 6:55pm
|
|
|
|
6
|
Next
|
3
|
Finished
|
|
04:00:16:59
|
6.5
|
1.099
|
04:09:48:54
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Ian Mason (8) NSW
|
|
30 Dec, 1:16pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
7
|
Ray White Spirit of Koomooloo
|
4
|
43? 14' S
|
147? 40' E
|
26.2
|
0.0
|
336
|
|
04:07:20:51
|
6.1
|
1.026
|
04:10:02:04
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Mike Freebairn (6) QLD
|
6nm W of Cape Raoul
|
30 Dec, 8:20pm
|
|
|
|
|
Time to Win
|
04:05:19:37 30 Dec, 6:19pm
|
|
|
|
8
|
Swish
|
3
|
Finished
|
|
04:00:16:54
|
6.5
|
1.104
|
04:10:17:42
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Steven Proud NSW
|
|
30 Dec, 1:16pm
|
|
|
|
9
|
Patrice Six
|
3
|
Finished
|
|
03:23:05:34
|
6.6
|
1.119
|
04:10:24:32
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Tony Kirby (27) NSW
|
|
30 Dec, 12:05pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
10
|
Ran
|
1
|
Finished
|
|
02:20:27:55
|
9.2
|
1.56
|
04:10:48:21
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Niklas Zennstrom/Tim Powell (2) UK
|
|
29 Dec, 9:27am
|
|
|
|
11
|
Seahold Perie Banou II
|
4
|
42? 27' S
|
148? 40' E
|
96.4
|
9.2
|
164
|
|
04:17:18:30
|
5.5
|
0.943
|
04:10:50:59
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Jon Sanders (6) WA
|
16nm SE of Cape Sonnerat
|
31 Dec, 6:18am
|
|
|
|
|
Time to Win
|
04:14:14:44 31 Dec, 3:14am
|
|
|
|
12
|
Charisma
|
3
|
Finished
|
|
03:23:38:48
|
6.6
|
1.118
|
04:10:55:59
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Alejandro Perez Calzada Spain
|
|
30 Dec, 12:38pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
13
|
Archie
|
4
|
43? 15' S
|
147? 50' E
|
32.9
|
8.1
|
260
|
|
04:07:27:13
|
6.1
|
1.036
|
04:11:10:41
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Mick Souter (5) TAS
|
2nm E of Cape Raoul
|
30 Dec, 8:27pm
|
|
|
|
|
Time to Win
|
04:04:20:56 30 Dec, 5:20pm
|
|
|
|
14
|
Imagination
|
3
|
Finished
|
|
03:23:30:43
|
6.6
|
1.123
|
04:11:15:36
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Robin Hawthorn NSW
|
|
30 Dec, 12:30pm
|
|
|
|
15
|
Tow Truck
|
2
|
Finished
|
|
03:21:16:47
|
6.7
|
1.15
|
04:11:16:18
|
5.9
|
|
|
|
Anthony Paterson (8) NSW
|
|
30 Dec, 10:16am
|
by Peter Campbell
Click on thumbnails to enlarge and find more photos:
|
