Sydney to Hobart 2019: Weather for Boxing Day race, latest news
There is a twist in the updated weather forecast for the 75th Anniversary Sydney to Hobart which could favour the bold rather than the multimillion-dollar supermaxis.
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UPDATED: The Sydney to Hobart fleet is in for a wet and wild surf down the NSW coast the first afternoon of the race but a race record still appears to be off the menus for the 75th Anniversary.
The fleet of 157 will start in a building nor’easerly which will then see them romp down the NSW coast once the yachts are out into open water.
It will be a fast and furious start to the race with the supermaxis potentially reaching and then exceeding speeds up to 30 knots as they race the early stage of the event.
But winds will lighten and slow their progress and likely end any hope of a new race record.
The forecast overall for the race is benign and vastly different from the deep low which exploded over the fleet in 1998 causing widespread mayhem and claiming the lives of six men.
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Mid-sized boats may trump the glamour supermaxis in the 2019 Sydney to Hobart yacht race with a weather forecast issued that could prove size really doesn’t matter.
In the hotly contested battle for the overall honours in the annual race south, the 100-footer brigade of Wild Oats XI, Comanche, Black Jack, Scallywag and InfoTrack may be forced to play second fiddle to rivals half, if not a third of their size.
The overall honours are the main prize in the Sydney to Hobart with a complicated formula taking into account such things as size, age, sail area and antecedence, creating an equal playing field for the 628 nautical mile race to Hobart which starts at 1pm on Boxing Day.
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“The weather models are still dancing round the place but it still most likely to be the mid size or smaller boats who will do well,’’ said Sydney’s former two time overall winner Matt Allen, racing his 52-footer Ichi Ban south, before Christmas.
“If I could pick any boat I’d be on us but a smaller boat is not out of the question.
“At the moment it’s a great forecast for us. There is a bit of everything.
“We are in pretty good shape. We may have to be bold. We may have to take a gamble. We will see.’’
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Allen, took overall honours for the first time back in 1983 on Challenge II and is racing to Hobart for the 30th time this year.
Badham on Monday forecast a fast but not record breaking race as extreme heat across NSW and Victoria continues to complicate forecasting for the 75th anniversary event.
Badham said nor’easterly winds are on the agenda for the 1pm start and the first afternoon and night at sea on December 26.
Sydney skipper Jim Cooney owns the race record with his supermaxi Comanche finishing the race in a record one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds in 2017.
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The yacht is one of the favourites to win the line honours race to Hobart again this year.
Comanche is one of five 100-footers in the fleet which also includes the defending line honours champion Wild Oats X1, the Hong Kong entry Scallywag, the Queensland boat Black Jack and the Sydney supermaxi InfoTrack.
The last two overall winner - Allen’s Ichi Ban and Phillip Turner and his team on Alive - are also racing.
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