It’s full sail ahead as favourites push Sydney Hobart race record to the supermax
The fleet was led by favourites Master Lock Comanche and LawConnect at the start of what is tipped to be a head-to-head dogfight between the supermaxis.
The supermaxi favourites in the 2024 Sydney Hobart were charging down the coast on Thursday night, well ahead of race-record time, after a first day that featured a picture-perfect start, storms with strong northeasterly winds and a shock withdrawal.
Last year’s combatants in the line-honours thriller – winner LawConnect and Comanche – were leading the fleet, with last year’s runner-up in front after LawConnect struck trouble, unable to raise its downwind sail for almost 10 minutes.
The 2023 Tattersalls Cup handicap winner, Alive, was the first boat forced to retire, with mechanical problems.
A fleet of 104 yachts left Sydney Harbour in near perfect conditions under blue skies and with strong northeasterly winds.
The yachts soon encountered storms and choppy waters lurking off the coast.
With fast conditions, the leaders will hope to beat the race record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds set by Comanche in 2017, while keeping their ships, and crews, intact.
Master Lock Comanche, as it is called this year, was about 30 nautical miles ahead of its record-setting predecessor as it passed Batemans Bay on Thursday night.
LawConnect was the first to race through Sydney Heads and out into open water. Comanche was hot on its heels about 20 seconds in her wake.
LawConnect’s perfect run was soon cut short when its downwind sail couldn’t be unfurled. It cost the crew valuable minutes and let Comanche pounce into the lead.
In dramatic starting scenes, Wild Thing 100 also suffered an early close call after a hair-raising incident with 70-footer Celestial 70, forcing it to scramble out of the way. Wild Thing 100 lost speed in the process.
The competition between the maxis will likely come down to the forecast. LawConnect thrives in difficult and inconsistent conditions, while Comanche will be hoping for more dependable conditions.
Some sailors, including LawConnect’s skipper and owner Christian Beck, said they were nervous about the heavy downwind conditions but it looked favourable for the back-to-back hopefuls.
“The weather conditions are quite interesting and probably helpful to us because what we don’t really want is easy conditions and this is certainly not looking like an easy race so we’re happy about that,” Mr Beck said before he set off.
Comanche’s Matt Allen predicted the record could be slashed by about two hours this year.
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