Sydney to Hobart yacht race news: favourite Alive in damage scare, Cabbage Island results
A highly fancied Sydney to Hobart yacht race favourite will be craned out of the water to have a crucial repair done after damage was discovered by chance in a lead-up race.
Local Sport
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A highly-fancied Sydney to Hobart yacht race favourite will be craned out of the water this week to have a crucial repair done after damage was discovered by chance in the Cabbage Tree Island lead-up race.
Alive, the two-time overall winner of the Sydney to Hobart and defending champion, was doing the Cabbage Tree Island as a shakedown fir the race south and got a little more than she bargained for.
Alive skipper Duncan Hine said an issue with the canard was discovered which must be repaired before she sets sail in the 2024 edition of the race on Boxing Day.
While not a major repair it is an important one for the yachts hopes of defending her overall win from a year ago.
“We have taken the offending piece out of the boat now. It was stuffed. The technical terms was it was flexing and its shouldn’t,’’ Hine said.
“It’s a simple bit of the boat to repair but just time consuming.
“But it is the difference between going upwind properly and not going upwind properly.’’
“We do these races to see if there’s anything we can pick up before the Hobart, and we have.’’
Since winning the race last December, Alive has been based in Queensland for an assortment of races including the Brisbane to Gladstone and Brisbane to Keppel.
In a boost for her new co-skipper Matt Allen and James Mayo, Master Lock Comanche took both the line honours and overall handicap win in the Cabbage Tree Island race.
She beat last year’s Sydney to Hobart winner LawConnect across the finish line and on handicap.
Ronald Epstein’s American yacht Bacchanal was third in the overall race.
The 100-footer Wild Thing was third across the line followed by URM and Celestial V70.
On Friday night just prior to the start of the Cabbage Tree Island race, there was a fatal collision between two yachts doing twilight racing.
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