Three yachts in close confines early in Sydney to Hobart yacht race

Three yachts in early duel in Sydney-Hobart race

SYDNEY — New Zealand maxi Alfa Romeo was leading the Sydney to Hobart race on Saturday, with just over one nautical mile separating the three leading yachts

Nine hours into the race, Alfa Romeo, skippered by Neville Crichton, was ahead of Britain’s ICAP Leopard, which had given up the early lead, and four-time defending champion Wild Oats XI.

“It looks like they (Leopard) are starting to struggle a bit in the easing breeze,” Alfa Romeo navigator Tom Addis said.

Leopard, a two-time winner of the Fastnet ocean race, is a heavier boat and sails better in stronger winds.

With light winds in the forecast, none of the leading yachts was expected to break the race record. The first yachts were due to reach Hobart, on the island state of Tasmania, on Monday or early Tuesday.

In 2005, Wild Oats XI, skippered by Mark Richards, finished the 723-mile race in a record 1 day, 18 hours, 40 minutes, after crossing the line at Constitution Dock in Hobart. The annual race was first held in 1945.

Alfa Romeo took advantage of a spinnaker problem on board Wild Oats to take the lead out of Sydney Harbor. Leopard, skippered by Mike Slade, was third to sail between Sydney Heads and into open ocean.

Etihad Stadium only just made the start after transporting and installing a replacement mast from Europe. Skipper Grant Wharington spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the repairs, but a problem with the rigging in the new mast forced him to retire the boat before it even left the harbor.

“Just disappointed … for my team more than anything,” Wharington said. “We’ve had probably 50 people for the last two weeks, with an enormous input from every single person.”

Richards predicted the race would be a “mindbender” because of lighter than expected winds.

“It’s going to be a tricky race, nowhere near as windy as what everyone thought, which is going to be a good thing for the fleet,” Richards said after the pre-race briefing.

“It’s going to be testing times for all the big boats … a very tactical race, a real mindbender.”

The race has been hit by severe storms in the past.

In 1998, six sailors died and seven boats sank during a storm that hit the fleet early on the first night of the race. In 2007, eight sailors had to abandon a sinking vessel and three others were airlifted to a hospital with injuries.