Monitoring desk
\nSydney
\nFour supermaxis were Thursday neck-and-neck in a fierce battle to cross the finish line first in what organisers said was the closest contest in the history of the Sydney to Hobart race.
\nJust five nautical miles (nine kilometres) were separating the mega-yachts as they raced down Australia\u2019s east coast, with defending line honours champion Comanche slightly ahead of Black Jack, Wild Oats XI and Infotrack.
\nThe lead had been switching regularly between 100-footer Comanche and fierce rival Wild Oats XI since a fleet of yachts departed a sunny Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day on Wednesday at the start of the 628-nautical mile (1,163-kilometre) race.
\n\u201cIt is by far the closest race ever,\u201d skipper Mark Richards of eight-time line honours Wild Oats XI said from the boat Thursday.<\/p>\n
His yacht was first to Hobart in 2017 but was stripped of the win after being handed a one-hour penalty over a near-collision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it will go all the way to the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n
The yachts were off the record pace of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds set by Comanche last year, amid lighter winds.<\/p>\n
The breeze in the notoriously wild Bass Strait between Tasmania and the Australian mainland varied on Thursday, with the vessels supported by 15-25 knot north-easterly winds that weakened at times to six knots.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not usual to have four quite different boats all in the same patch of water,\u201d said Black Jack navigator Tom Addis from his yacht.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese boats are all very different. They all have different strengths and weaknesses. This is the most interesting race in the 100 footers… There\u2019s a good chance that we\u2019re all going to be together (near the finish).\u201d<\/p>\n
– \u2018Cat and mouse\u2019 –<\/p>\n
TP52 Ichi Ban — last year\u2019s handicap honours winner — was favourite again to be the vessel that performs best according to size, but dropped off the lead Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Smaller boats were in the handicap lead, with Kayimai ahead of Midnight Rambler and Grace O\u2019Malley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monitoring desk Sydney Four supermaxis were Thursday neck-and-neck in a fierce battle to cross the finish line first in what organisers said was the closest contest in the history of the Sydney to Hobart race. Just five nautical miles (nine kilometres) were separating the mega-yachts as they raced down Australia\u2019s east coast, with defending line […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n