1:59 AM Mon 28 Dec 2009 GMT
It seemed this morning the Neville Crichton's New Zealand supermaxi Alfa Romeo has both the 2009 Sydney to Hobart trophies in her grasp as she was clearly leading the 65th race on both the line honours and overall handicap categories.
Now the door could be swinging ever so slightly ajar for Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI, whose crew lead by Mark Richard's is valiantly struggling to extend her four Hobart line honours winning streak to five.
Just three hours ago Alfa was leading Britisher Mike Slade's ICAP Leopard with Wild Oats XI over 31 miles behind the leader as the three Australian built (McConaghy) super maxis pushed down Tasmania's east coast on Monday morning.
Behind them there is a huge gap opening up over the remainder of the fleet.
Now Wild Oats XI has her pedal to the floor, she has sailed through the British boat into second place, skirting wide outside ICAP Leopard as she stalled in a soft air patch.
An hour ago the Oats was 22 miles in arrears. That is a huge lead in normal weather, but in this light weather race, parking lots seem to be around every corner and it would take just one of these to bring the two rivals back onto even terms.
Alfa's Murray Spence is still worried about being chased down. 'We know how tricky the winds can be around in the last part of this race. Any time we're not moving at 15 knots the Oats can be closing fast.'
Right now there is some stern-ward looking by the Alfa Romeo after guard.
Aboard Wild Oats XI co-navigator Adrienne Cahalan commented earlier 'The transition zone might make things interesting for us. It could be quite tricky.'
The gap has closed to less than 14 miles and the four times Hobart lines honours winner is coming up fast as the two boats close on Cape Sonnerat around 50 miles north of Tasman Light.
One gets the feeling that just one wrong decision from the Alfa team and the Wild Oats XI team could celebrating with more than just the Robert Oatley Shiraz and Wild Oats Chardonnay tonight.
by Rob Kothe & the Sail-World Team
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Manly, QLD
