This was published 10 months ago
LawConnect have won line honours in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, beating defending champion and favourite Andoo Comanche by seconds.
It’s fourth time lucky for owner Christian Beck, who has been the runner-up for the past three years, but after one day and 16 hours the race is finally over and Beck has won.
Watch below a replay as LawConnect cross the finish line:
That’s all the live coverage from us today, and what a crazy day it has been.
If you want to read about the action, you can find the full report here.
There’s still plenty of action left in the race, but we won’t see another boat cross the finish line for hours.
If all goes well, URM Group, Alive and Moneypenny should all reach Constitution Dock today.
Thanks for following along, have a great day.
LawConnect nudges ahead to win the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.Credit: Getty
LawConnect skipper Christian Beck has lifted the trophy in Hobart after more than 43 hours of sailing, but admitted he thought they had lost in the race’s final moments.
“We thought we’d definitely lost it like 15 minutes before because they [Andoo Comanche] were three miles ahead of us,” Beck said.
“The boat, I jokingly call a shitbox, but compared to Comanche it honestly is a shitbox. I know it looks good on TV, but if you go up close to that boat, it’s as rough as anything, and Comanche is a beautiful boat that’s better in every way.”
Christian Beck celebrates victory in Hobart.Credit: Getty
The official gap between Sydney to Hobart winner LawConnect and Andoo Comanche was just 51 seconds.
The final finish time was 1 day, 19 hours, 3 minutes and 58 seconds - more than 10 hours slower than the race record set by Comanche in 2017.
LawConnect sailing master Tony Mutter has said the boat is currently flying a protest flag, but the team are yet to discuss whether they will go through with it.
“We did notify the race committee that we were flying a protest flag...for an incident during the race that we thought affected our performance,” Mutter said.
“We slowed down for half an hour… on standby for a boat we thought was in distress.”
Mutter confirmed the boat in question was Andoo Comanche, but stressed they didn’t think it was intentional.
“There was no intent on their part to create that problem...we’re not suggesting that at all,” he said.
The LawConnect crew have just reached the dock in Hobart and are celebrating.
On board, four amateur sailors who are employees at Christian Beck’s company LawConnect, including Wenee Yap who until three weeks ago, had never sailed on the open ocean.
Now, Wenee is a Sydney to Hobart winner, and she’s raced in some of the toughest conditions.
Wenee Yap is part of the LawConnect crew for this year’s Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.Credit: James Brickwood
LawConnect and Andoo Comanche are hours ahead of the rest of the fleet, but we are expecting more boats to cross the finish line today.
Overall handicap contenders Alive, URM and Moneypenny are in a tight battle for third, and are about 86 nautical miles from Hobart.
As for the rest of the fleet, Wild Thing 100 could also finish today, but it’s unlikely we’ll see any of the smaller boats for another day or two.
URM Group are in the contest for third.Credit: Getty
Thousands of people line the shore in Hobart, while spectator fleets zip in between the two 100-foot supermaxis in the Harbour.
Andoo Comanche might be the fastest supermaxi in the world, but the hard work has paid off for LawConnect.
It’s a fairytale ending for Christian Beck and his crew, who lost one of their most important sails on night one after wild storms thrashed the fleet, but against all odds they have crossed the line first and will be celebrating at Customs House when they reach land.
We’re less than one kilometre away from the finish line, and Andoo Comanche has just got its nose in front.
LawConnect and Andoo Comanche are side by side, if they wanted, the two boats could have a bit of banter as the race to the finish line.