Eighteen hours after the 13:00 (AUS) start from Sydney, Peter Harburg’s Black Jack, skippered by Mark Bradford, is overall Line Honours leader.
Second is Christian Beck’s LawConnect and third Seng Huang Lee’s SHK Scallywag 100.
Shane Kearns’ White Bay 6 Azzurro leads the Fully Crewed IRC fleet, and Rob Gough and John Sau’s Sidewinder leads the 2-Handed Line Honours from Maverick of Rod Smallman and Leeton Hulley.
From the start SHK Scallywag 100 skipper David Witt produced the first upset of this year’s race by leading the fleet of 88 at the first and second marks.
Scallywag led with the two other 100-footers, Christian Beck’s LawConnect and Peter Harburg’s Black Jack, skippered by Mark Bradford, in their wake.
Soon after the second mark disaster struck Scallywag, allowing LawConnect to take the lead with Black Jack in tow, followed by SHK Scallywag 100.
Scallywag reported, “Shortly after passing the Heads, the yacht suffered a technical issue with the J2 foresail tack fitting. The crew managed to get the sail down safely and get the orange storm jib up in the air while they worked to repair the problem.”
Conditions for the first two days are likely to remain similar, although winds could shift to the south east as the feet heads south. Meanwhile 1.5 to 2.5 metre waves are expected.
17+ yachts have retired at sea from the 88 race starters.
Rolex Sydney Hobart Race at 20:00 (UK) 26 Dec Leaders:
1st Black Jack – – Peter Harburg Monaco DTF 443.8 SOG 12.4
2nd LawConnect – – Christian Beck NSW DTF 449.9 SOG TBA
3rd SHK Scallywag – – Seng Huang Lee Hong Kong DTF 468.2 SOG 12.8
4th Stefan Racing – – AUS 80 Pty Ltd NSW DTF 472.5 SOG 11.8
5th Alive – – Philip Turner TAS DTF 480.8 SOG 10.7
6th Whisper – – David Griffith NSW DTF 486.9 SOG 10.1
7th Celestial – – Sam Haynes NSW DTF 494.7 SOG 4.3
8th Quest – – Craig Neil NSW DTF 497.2 SOG 9.2
9th Khaleesi – – Rob Aldis NSW DTF 502.4 SOG 7.9
10th Ichi Ban – – Matt Allen NSW DTF 505 SOG 9.8
Visit the tracker page to keep an eye on the fleet as they make their way down to Hobart.
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