| AUSTRALIA, BASS STRAIT 16:00 LOCAL TIME-(27-12-2003) “It has become an incredible match race in the open ocean”.
This was the quote from Peter Sutton, the sailing master on New Zealand super maxi Zana this afternoon as they tried to claw back the one-mile gap on their arch rival Skandia from Melbourne.
Both 98-footers were sailing in a 20-25 knot south-westerly breeze and lumpy seas as they powered across Bass Strait, Tasmania-bound.
The two frontrunners entered Bass Strait early this afternoon, followed by Grundig AAPT, Nicorette, Brindabella and Seriously TEN, achieving boat speeds of 12 knots plus.
While they are bashing into a headwind and a bumpy sea, Sutton described the sailing as “pleasant”.
Chairman of the CYCA Race Committee Tim Cox predicted a Sunday evening finish by the line honours winner, “possibly by sunset but more likely after ten o’clock.”
“They are in good breeze now, but there appear to be a couple of soft spots of the northern part of the Tasmanian East Coast,” he added after assessing the 1500 hours (3pm) radio position reports from the 56 boat fleet.
As Zana sailed in hot pursuit, race leader Skandia again changed to a smaller headsail in the fresh conditions with skipper Grant Wharington commenting, “we have got sail changing down to a fine art”. It takes six crew to change the headsail on this giant yacht.
Some 10 miles astern came Grundig AAPT, which is gradually slipping out of contention for the line honours prize. At this stage, the 66-footer’s only saving grace would be if the stiff north easterly breeze due Monday came early, providing a fast spinnaker run to the finish.
Meanwhile, further back in the fleet, last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Overall winner is the current IMS handicap leader.
However, Bob Steel’s chances of back to back victories is under challenge from pre-race favourites Geoff Ross’ 52-footer Yendys, and First National Real Estate, a Beneteau 40.7 skippered by Michael Spies.
One of the surprise movers for Overall race honours is sentimental favourite, George snow’s Brindabella. Also up in the handicap standings is the Sandringham Yacht Club entry Dysons Cobb & Co skippered by Chris Dare.
The international challenge for the Tattersalls Cup is coming from Bounder, a former race winner, skippered by the Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club Chris Little.
In the IRC division, the high tech boats have turned the tables on the older and smaller boats that were up this morning with Skandia leading from Zana and Grundig AAPT in third position based on the 3.00pm position report.
In the PHS division, the Volvo 60 Seriously TEN was leading Maurice Cameron’s Witchdoctor and the South Australian entry Pale Ale Rager was in third place.
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