| HOBART, AUSTRALIA 13:00 LOCAL TIME-(28-12-2003) While the race for line honours seems to have boiled down to a three-horse sprint, after 48 hours of racing, the contest for handicap remains wide open. Any one of more than a dozen boats could win Australia’s premier ocean race.
In the IMS division, the ultra modern Yendys has regained the lead, narrowly ahead on corrected time from the veteran Love & War, which has tasted victory already in earlier Hobarts, in 1974 and 1978.
Nips N Tux lies in third place, ahead of First National Real Estate, which had held the lead for most of the second night and into this morning. Quest, last year’s winner is in fifth place, followed by the British team on Bounder.
In IRC it is equally close. Loki continues to sail well and has pulled ahead of Nips N Tux with Quest in third place. Dysons Cobb &Co is in fourth position in the division, followed by First National Real Estate and Ichi Ban.
In the PHS division Kickatinalong leads Balmain Experience, Wahoo, Pale Ale Rager, Witchdoctor and Bright Morning Star.
It has been a feature of this year’s race, though, that the lead positions in all the divisions have been in a constant flux. Rarely has a fleet been so tightly bunched.
It looks as though the race for Line Honours will be settled on the Derwent River. The contest, too, for corrected time, could go down to minutes, or even seconds, and some luck and right decisions in the final few miles of each yacht’s own personal race.
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