Alive win Launceston to Hobart with a new race record after Sydney-Hobart COVID-19 scare
Tasmania’s biggest off-shore race was on Duncan Hine’s bucket list and not only did he tick that box this year, he did it in style by landing a line honours/race record double.
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- With the Sydney-Hobart shut down for the first time in 76 years, the Kraken crew are rapt they decided to take on the L2H
- Alive crew in quarantine but hopeful of competing in the Launceston to Hobart yacht race
TASMANIA’S biggest off-shore race was on Duncan Hine’s bucket list and not only did he tick that box this year, he did it in style by landing a line honours/race record double.
Hine skippered his all-Tasmanian crewed 66-foot rocket Alive across the finish line at 7.30pm to set a new mark for the 285 nautical mile race.
The former Sydney-Hobart handicap champion beat the old L2H mark, set by Crotty Legal & Dental in 2008, by two hours and three minutes.
Light breezes had crew fearing they would not make it to the final in time to claim the record.
Storm Bay provided enough wind into the Derwent before the river shut up shop for the night, and no soon had Alive finished, so did the breeze.
It was a fitting finish to a week-long saga that saw Hine “rescue” Alive from the COVID-19 crisis in Sydney, which caused the cancellation of the Sydney-Hobart, only to be quarantined when they arrived home.
They were cleared on Christmas Eve to race the L2H.
“To win and get the record made it all worthwhile,” Hine said.
“It was a lot of fun, especially after missing out on the Sydney-Hobart, this was great to do this race – it’s a great race, a bucket-list race.”
The fleet was hammered on the opening night.
It faced a 30-knot westerly as it sailed east across Bass Strait and when the boats turned south, a brutal southerly with gusts of 40 knots was waiting.
It dismasted B&G Advantage, forced the retirement of Zephyr with rudder damage and Prima Donna with mast damage, and caused Black Magic to turn on its motor and head for the calm waters at Triabunna because of seasick crew.
Peter Cretan decided caution was the best move aboard Tilt.
“The first night was very difficult for everybody,” Cretan said.
“It blew in hard from the west at a consistent 35 knots and when we turned the corner (south) a southerly hit us pretty hard and the sea was very rough.
“It wasn’t the most pleasant night of sailing so we took it relatively easy to preserve the boat and crew.”
Odessa is the last boat in the race, with an estimated finish time of dawn on Wednesday.
EARLIER:
LATEST, 5.30pm:
MOTHER Nature will decide whether or not Alive takes lines honours in a new race record time as conditions are set to lighten for the final run to the finish of the Launceston to Hobart yacht race on the Derwent tonight
The 66-foot former handicap winner of the Sydney-Hobart must cross the finish by 9.03pm to beat Crotty Legal & Dental’s 2008 record of 1 day 9 hours 33 minutes 58 seconds.
The L2H race tracked had Alive crossing at some time between 8pm and 9pm.
Alive skipper Duncan Hine was starting to doubt their chances of a record run late this afternoon.
“We need a consistent breeze around Tasman Island and across Storm Bay,” Hine said.
“Then there’s the danger that the breeze with shut down in the river and we won’t be going anywhere in a hurry.
“It all depends on what happens with the breeze.”
Of the 31-strong fleet that started the 285nm race on Sunday, five had retired by late today.
Windrose had water coming on-board, Black Magic had seasick crew, B&G Advantage was dismasted, Zephyr had rudder damage and Prima Donna had mast damage.
Odessa is the last boat in the race, with an estimated finish time of dawn on Wednesday.
EARLIER 3.30pm:
JAZZ Player has built a solid lead on overall handicap in the Launceston to Hobart yacht race as the fleet passes the East Coast this afternoon, but Alive’s bid to break the race record will go down to the wire.
John Dryden’s yacht was second on the water to Alive as it approached Mercury Passage at eight knots midafternoon.
Jazz Player had built a 12 nautical mile gap on third-placed Kraken, which in turn had a 17nm lead over The Dog House.
In the race for overall IRC handicap, “Jazzy” led Kraken, The Dog House and Heat Wave.
The crew of Alive are poring over the forecasts hoping to find enough breeze to get it home in time to break the race record.
It needs to cross before 9.03pm to set the new mark.
“We are starting to doubt whether we will get there on time,” said Alive skipper Duncan Hine.
“We need more breeze and it also depends on whether the river shuts down.”
EARLIER, 12.30pm:
CREWS in the 14th Launceston to Hobart yacht race have described horrid conditions on the first night of the race but the wind has all but disappeared today.
Hobart skipper Jeff Cordell’s 36-footer B&G Advantage retired on the early first night after it was dismasted in Bass Strait.
It motored safely back to the start at Beauty Point to join Windrose, which retired soon after the start when its crew discovered water coming on-board.
Black Magic, skippered by Graham Mansfield, withdrew early on day two with crew seasickness, and motored into the shelter of Triabunna.
Alive leads the fleet for line honours.
Skipper Duncan Hine said the fleet was pummelled.
“We had plenty of excitement last night – it got up to 40 knots on the nose,” he said.
“It was heinous.
“There’s no breeze now – plenty last night and nothing this morning.
“There are a huge amount of boats and people fishing in Mercury Passage.
“We’ve got probably four knots of breeze from the southeast, but the water has leftover slop from last night as we come out of the bottom end of Maria.”
Alive has an estimated finish time of around 9pm.
It must cross before 9.03pm to break the race record.
EARLIER, 10.30am:
LIGHT winds off Tasmania’s East Coast has slowed Alive’s assault on the Launceston to Hobart line honours record as the 66-footer passes through Mercury Passage this morning.
Alive had 80 nautical miles to go to reach the finish line and was travelling at just three knots as it crept between Triabunna and Maria Island at 10.30am.
The L2H race tracker had Alive’s estimated arrival time as 6.30pm, about two hours ahead of the race record of 1 day 9 hours set by Crotty Legal & Dental in 2008.
Jazz Player (John Dryen) leads on overall handicap from day one leader The Dog House (Ambrose Coad) while Kraken (Mark Bayles) and Hip-Naitic (Jean-Pierre Ravana) are the other contenders.
In the AMS handicap division, Jazz Player is also the boat to beat ahead of Kraken and The Dog House.
The Dog House reversed fortunes in PHS division, leading Jazz Player and Rumbeat (Justin Barr) and Dental First, while Alive leads ORCi ahead of Dream and Kraken.
EARLIER:
THE Launceston to Hobart yacht race record will fall this afternoon barring a disaster happening to pocket-maxi Alive.
The 66-footer leads the race by about 60 nautical miles over Jazz Player, Tilt, Andantedge and Dream, which are sailing close together near Freycinet.
Alive was about to pass through Mercury Passage, between Triabunna and Maria Island, at about 9am.
It is a significant navigation point in the race, whereas the Sydney-Hobart fleet passes the island to the east.
Alive is expected to finish at about 2pm.
DAY 1
ALIVE is on track to take line honours and set a new record in the Launceston to Hobart yacht race as The Dog House eyes victory on overall handicap.
The 14th Launceston-Hobart set off in friendly north-easterly conditions and outgoing tide from Beauty Point at 11.30am on Sunday for the run to the mouth of the Tamar River at Low Head.
The Launceston to Hobart is the biggest offshore yacht race in the world this Christmas-New Year after so many other events were cancelled.
The 30 Tasmanian crews and a single Victorian boat could not believe their luck in being able to tackle the 285-nautical mile race.
The coronavirus pandemic shut down the 56th Sydney-Hobart, the 48th Melbourne-Hobart, and numerous other events, with the socially distant Vendee Globe Ocean Race around the world the only other sailing race not to be canned.
Race favourite and former Sydney-Hobart handicap king Alive showed the 31-strong fleet its transom after a mass start at Beauty Point.
Alive took just 35 minutes and 2 seconds to clear the Tamar followed by Victorian yacht Dream, Launceston yacht Advantedge.
The Low Head Dash is the first instalment of a three-race series for the Launceston-Hobart fleet, along with the L2H race itself and the King of the Derwent on January 2.
Dream took Dash honours in the PHS division and Quest, of the Bellerive Yacht Club and skippered by Vaughan Lynch, claimed the win on AMS handicap.
Dream also won it on ORCi and The Dog House clinched IRC.
The fleet was spotted by golfers at Barnbugle and Lost Farm as it cut close to the coast on the way to Banks Strait – between the northeast tip of Tasmania and Flinders Island – and the turn south.
The 66-foot pocket-maxi Alive used its superior power to pull away from the fleet once in Bass Strait, capitalising on the 18-knot north-easterly to put a bigger gap on its 30 L2H rivals on Sunday night.
Best of the rest on the water was Dream, Tilt, Advantedge, Jazz Player and Quest, while Rumbeat, skippered by Justin Barr, led the race on PHS Division 2 and overall, while Quest led on PHS Division 1.
Race officials have little doubt the race record will fall to Alive.
“Their routing indicates a midafternoon finish tomorrow [Monday] and there looks like every chance that they will break the race record,” said Shaun Tiedemann, of the Derwent Sailing Squadron.
“The only thing that will stop them is a major breakage.”
Alive must finish before 8.03pm to set a new race record.
Former Tasmanian Sydney-Hobart entrant Windrose withdrew early when its crew discovered water entering the boat.
SKIPPER PUTS ‘FAMILY’ IN THE FIRING LINE
JEFF Cordell has sailed in all but one of the 14 Launceston to Hobart yacht races and in this year’s event the ace skipper would love to leave his closest “family” members in his wake.
Cordell, of Hobart, says the race known as the L2H is like being part of an extended family.
Before it started at Beauty Point at 11.30am on Sunday, Cordell’s goal was to master all of the boats about the same size as his 36ft (11m) rocket B&G Advantage.
The beauty of the L2H is never having to leave the state or load up with the Sydney-Hobart’s blue water category one safety requirements.
“It is easy to get your boat up here [Beauty Point], you don’t have to get across Bass Strait and spend a week getting there, you can get your boat here in two or three days, which is helpful especially if you are working,” Cordell said.
“I really like the welcome that the Tamar Yacht Club do for us, from the time we get here they treat our boat like it is their own.
“Everyone is just so friendly so it’s a bit of a reunion when you come up to start the race – it’s a group of people we always love catching up with.”
Any crew hoping to beat B&G Advantage has a fight on its hands.
“There’s a very competitive 36ft fleet so it’s like a race within a race, and we want to be the first of that group,” Cordell said.
“We’re not racing 50-footers or half-tonners, we race the boats similar to ours.”
The weather will present the fleet of 31 with a mix of conditions.
“There’s plenty of breeze around but there are also going to be some light patches, and you need to be in the right spot for that,” Cordell said.
“Whoever makes the most of it will do well.”
Alive won the race out of the Tamar River in light conditions before the easterly crossing of Bass Strait.
The 66-footer was followed by the only Victorian entry, Dream, and Andrew Jones’ refurbished Launceston yacht Advantedge.
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