Three of the Langman family shared the honour of sailing the last boat to the finish line in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, crossing the finish line at 4.48pm late this afternoon in the time of five days 3hr 48min 22sec.

Young skipper, 18 year old Pete, was having his first ever Hobart experience aboard Maluka of Kermandie and wore a broad smile as the assembled spectators clapped the tiny gaff rigged yacht into the Kings Pier in Hobart this afternoon.

“It was good – but it was a bit tough,” Pete admitted. “Upwind for a couple of days was hard, but at the end we got two days of running, which was more pleasant. I guess the hardest was parking at Tasman Island for a few hours – flopping around – it wasn’t pleasant,” said Pete who nevertheless said he would be back next year, “but on something a bigger.”

The young sailor said the three Langmans and the rest of the crew “were very happy to be in Hobart for New Year.” He also admitted that he and dad, Sean, threw up on the first night at sea “I saw the chicken fly past after we ate it! Nicki (his older sister on her first Hobart) didn’t get sick at all – and she got better and better at sailing as the race went on.”

Asked if the long five days on the small 9 metre yacht had bonded them or made them sick of each other, Pete said: “We had plenty of laughs because the weather was so crap and we were going stir crazy, so I guess we bonded.”

There were four yachts in the battle to be the last boat home for New Year’s Eve – and all four finished the famous 628 nautical mile race in time for New Year after changing positions a few times, so close together they were in the end.

Not Negotiable, Eressea, Nemesis and Maluka of Kermandie each took a turn at the back end of the fleet in the last 24 hours of the race and places were still changing as the four reached the River Derwent, where, Pete says: “Not Negotiable got a puff and we didn’t, so she sailed away from us.” .

Sean Langman’s 9 metre gaff rigged Maluka of Kermandie from NSW, the American C&C41 Nemesis (Jeffrey Taylor), John Bankart’s Hanse 400, Eressea, from Mooloolaba in in Queensland and Not Negotiable, the UFO34 owned by John Rayner of Kettering in Tasmania, battled to the end.

Maluka of Kermandie, which turns 70 in 2012, stormed home to eighth overall in her first Hobart in 2006, then last year, owner Sean Langman skippered the 100ft super maxi Investec Loyal – boats at either end of the spectrum.

While Pete was in the skipper role, Sean, with 22 Rolex Sydney Hobart’s to his name, was the voice of reason and experience. The Noakes Rigging managing director said: “It was a tough one for a little boat, especially tough given that we were over the start line early and last boat here, and finishing on New Year’s Eve. So yeah, a few firsts for me.”

As to swapping from his super maxi last year, to this tiny boat, Sean said: “There's as much preparation, no matter what boat you’re on. The challenges are certainly different. Being on Maluka with the kids was so special.

Of daughter Nicki’s first participation in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Sean said proudly: “She went great! Nicki and I shared a watch. Last night was pretty busy with the spinnaker work. By the end of it, before I even opened my mouth, she was adjusting things, so it was good. We had a very good time.”

But did he think the trip brought them closer together as a family? “We'll see if they take off in 10 minutes,” he exclaimed laughing, as wife Cathy arrived to cart the family off.

Langman loves his pretty little boat. “Ninety nine percent of the original planking is there; she was built in 1932 out of Huon Pine by Billy Fisher in Sydney, La Perouse. We acquired her in 2005. These types of boats have always been in our family,” he said.

Tomorrow, at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, the official prize giving will take place at 1100 hours.

By Di Pearson/Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

The crew of Maluka arrive in time for New Year's Eve celebrations. Photo by: ROLEX/Daniel Forster

The race was on for the two Western Australian entrants in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race yesterday as they were racing neck and neck and only to finish less than a minute apart from each other.

Optimus Prime and Knee Deep, rivalling each other as the only two yachts to represent Western Australia, finished 10th and 12th in IRC Division 2 respectively.

However, it was Optimus Prime skipper, Trevor Taylor, who had the biggest grin. “We’ve both sailed two and a half thousand miles to get to this race, raced 628 nautical miles and finished less than a minute apart,” he said with wonder.

“And we often finish that way at home, too,” he said. “Even better was the fact that we were the one in front by less than a minute - and not behind by less than a minute.”

Skipper of Knee Deep, Phil Childs, a Perth surgeon and owner of Knee Deep Wines, admitted that it was a relief to be back on dry land.

“I’ve done five Hobart’s and I think that was one of the toughest ones…Friday was just a nightmare,” he said.

“Battling the Derwent and trying to beat our rival – looks like he went over the line about two and a half boat lengths in front of us, less than a minute after 628 miles of racing.”

Childs said it was losing that was their biggest frustration, and that they had been “on edge all day,” trying to beat Optimus Prime to the finish line.

“There’s a pressure to beat them, essentially, and I think they felt that and we felt that – they’re relieved,” he said.

Despite taking alternative sides of the course, the two yachts still ended up crossing paths after making the long trip from Perth to Sydney before following on to Hobart.

Taylor believed it was the toy figure of Transformer’s character Optimus Prime, which was hanging on board, which brought the crew its good luck.

“We pulled him out after the wind shut down last night – we were behind Knee Deep – we pulled him out and now we reckon he’s our lucky charm.”

Taylor plans to take Knee Deep to Melbourne and compete in a regatta in Geelong at the end of January before sailing back home to Western Australia.

By Enrica Rigoli, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Knee Deep catches the sunset but not Optimus Prime. Photo by: ROLEX-Daniel Forster

It was a mixed race for the crew of the Volvo 60 Merit, which arrived in Hobart safe and jubilant after a special Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race dedication in Sydney, as the crew decided to make the race a tribute to noted Tasmanian maritime figure and avid sailor Nick Wells, who died in November.

Wells’ son, Ben, joined the Queensland entry for his fifth Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and said he was touched by the dedication.

“It was a bit of a surprise when the boys told me they were going to do that,” Ben said. “It's a lovely gesture and much appreciated.”

A former project manager at Incat, as well as member of the crew of the 50th anniversary1994 line honours winner Tasmania, Nick Wells was well known by the crew and Merit's skipper Leo Rodriguez, who remembered Wells’ love of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s annual Hobart race.

For Rodriguez and the rest of Merit’s crew, it was a patchy race, with a strong front on the first night causing the mainsail to rip and a cringle (rope ring) to be pulled from the headsail.

“It's the usual damage you expect from a Sydney Hobart,” Rodriguez said, with the crew suffering some injuries as well.

“Unfortunately, I have a cut under my eye where a (food) container landed on my head while I was asleep; and another crew member has a badly twisted knee, but it was the sail damage that slowed us down.”

While the torn sail hurt their chances of doing well on handicap, Rodriquez said it was the light patches that proved the most frustrating.

“Usually rounding Tasman Island is a highlight. Unfortunately, this time we were parked there for about six hours,” Rodriguez said. “Merit is a boat that likes heavy weather and we just didn’t have that.”

Despite the variable weather conditions and sail damage, the crew were happy to finish the race and be able to pay tribute to a fellow sailor.

By Morgan Barnsley, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Arriving within minutes of five other yachts, Beneteau 45 Balance finished this year's Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race after a contest full of patchy weather.

Skipper of Balance, Paul Clitheroe, has kept his passion for sailing throughout his career as a money media commentator. He is well known for his role as the host of the Nine Network's show, Money, as well as his financial advisory firm, Ipac – hence the nickname the ‘Money Man’.

After finishing his fifth Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, he explained that you do not have to be a multi-millionaire to experience the sport, nor do you need to be a professional sailor in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia hosted race.

“We're a little unusual, in that we're a team of complete amateurs. No one gets paid to sail, and we're just a bunch of friends,” Clitheroe, a member of the CYCA said. “The relatively smaller boats are a lot cheaper; you don't need professional sailors, and you can have a ball doing it.”

However, he warned that the race is not for novices: “It's a bit like saying, 'I've never walked up a hill before, but I know I'll climb Mount Everest!' Clearly you need to step yourself up to these challenges,” Clitheroe said. “As skipper, I'm the responsible person for the lives of 12 people.”

This danger and sense of responsibility are also the aspects he loves most about the race. “There isn’t a bureaucrat sitting next to you - there isn't a policeman sitting next to you,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’re there on a small piece of fibreglass, in howling winds, and howling waves, and it's up to the 12 of you.”

His statement became clear when six hours out of Sydney Harbour a strong front hit Balance, whisking the Beneteau 45 down the south coast of NSW and into Bass Strait.

Winds died down then and dropped off completely as the yacht reached Tasman Island, where it stayed from dusk till dawn, until the winds picked up and the Clitheroe crew sailed across the finish 23rd on line, with a provisional 18th overall placing.

Despite falling down the rankings due to the wind dying on his last night at sea, the Sydney yachtsman and his crew were pleased with their effort, and are already looking forward to next year's race.

By Jason Hofman/Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

As Greg Zyner and Morgan Rogers, respectively the owners of the yachts Copernicus and Wave Sweeper, threw the mooring lines to Constitution Dock well-wishers between 6.50am and 7.50am this morning in Hobart, 12 yachts still remained at sea in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The two New South Welshmen and their crews arrived in good form, all eager to hit the showers and join in the celebrations with their yachtie mates, some of whom have been partying for over 24 hours now in what has turned out to be a slow race for the mid to small range boats.

Wave Sweeper, the Beneteau 40.7 which had the distinction of finishing last in the 2010, race, lived up to Roger’s expectation of not being last this year. Before leaving the CYCA in Sydney for the Boxing Day start, Rogers promised “I won’t be last this time – there’s a couple of boats we know we can beat.”

Rogers, whose yacht was the former successful Le Billet, sailed the race with a mostly Russian crew who seemed to have made the difference, although most are novice Hobart sailors.

The 12 yachts remaining at sea are expected into Hobart today, among them Sean Langman’s 9 metre gaff rigged Maluka, the American entry Nemesis (Jeffrey Taylor) and John Bankart’s Hanse 400, Eressea, from Mooloolaba in in Queensland.

The trio is expected to vie for the last yacht into Hobart award, but others are nearby, including Not Negotiable owned by John Rayner of Kettering in Tasmania and Derwent Sailing Squadron yacht, Natelle Two, which is in the hands of 22 year-old Laura Roper, who has her experienced dad Glenn and brother Ashley aboard.

Maluka, which stormed home to eighth overall in her first Hobart in 2006, has Langman’s 18 year old son, Pete, in charge of the boat and his older sister Nicki aboard. The family affair has the wisdom of dad Sean, who will have 22 Rolex Sydney Hobart’s to his credit when Maluka, the smallest and oldest yacht in the race (she turns 70 in 2012) docks in Hobart this afternoon.

Along with Nemesis, Maluka had 40 nautical miles to go to reach the Hobart finish line at 7.45am, while Eressea was a further mile astern. The three are expected to finish this afternoon, but this morning were struggling with light winds which are not expected to pick up until after lunch.

Today the public will have the opportunity to acknowledge the overall winner and some of the divisional winners on the presentation stage at Constitution Dock at 1100 local time.

The official trophy presentation will take place at the RYCT on 1 January.

By Di Pearson/Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Round the world yachtswoman Jessica Watson and her crew of “juniors” aboard the Sydney 38 Ella Baché crossed the finish line in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race at 3.12pm today - the youngest-ever crew to compete in the race - all are under 21.

Not only were they youngest-ever crew in the hands of one of the youngest skippers in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s race ever, but they finished second in the highly competitive eight-boat Sydney 38 One-Design division and ahead of their coach Chris Lewin aboard Deloitte as One.

In the final chapter of their race, Ella Baché beat another Sydney 38, Bruce Foye’s Australian champion, The Goat, by just four minutes.

The prize for Watson, who finished sailing the world solo, non-stop and unassisted in a voyage that ended in May 2010, was to be ungraciously picked up by fellow crewmember Will Broughton and the two of them plunged into the waters of Kings Pier Marina in Hobart. It was hardly respectful treatment for the 2011 Young Australian of the Year.

A huge crowd of onlookers had cheered Ella Baché to her marina berth - a crowd so large that officials sealed off the marina for her arrival. That reception has given her the taste for the Rolex Sydney Hobart and the intense competition between similar boats.

“It was awesome, really awesome,” Watson said. “It was close, the whole way with the Sydney 38s. That made for a really exciting sail.

“It was really good. I think it was a really good experience,” she enthused.

Watson claimed no credit for Ella Bache’s 37th place across the line in the remaining fleet of 77, second in the Sydney 38’s and 30th overall on corrected time. She said it was all down to the crew.

“It was just absolutely amazing - they sailed incredibly - everyone did an amazing job. All the credit goes to them – honestly - I just hung on for the ride,” she said.

“Over the past year it has been a lot of hard work.”

Asked what she might be expected to do next in her life, she took it literally and said: “I really want to eat and dry off a little. The next couple of days are about celebrating a lot of hard work. It’s been over a year, this project, and for three months it’s been very hard work training.”

Another Rolex Sydney Hobart is now on the cards.

“It’s definitely something I'd love to be doing again,” Watson said.

By Bruce Montgomery, Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race media team

Jessica Watson receives a dunking from fellow crew member Will Broughton. Photo by: ROLEX-Kurt Arrigo

It took Sydney-based Stephen Ainsworth 14 years to claim the elusive Tattersall’s Cup, and as he put it so succinctly, “it was a big box to tick”.

Commodores Garry Linacre (Cruising Yacht Club of Australia) and Graham Taplin (Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania) and Rolex Australia general manager Patrick Boutellier presented the stunning silver trophy and Yacht-Master timepiece to Ainsworth and his crew aboard Loki in front of an appreciative crowd at Kings Pier marina this morning.

The 18-strong crew boasts more than 100 Rolex Sydney Hobarts between them with “not too many winners” among this pool of experience,” Ainsworth reflected dockside today.

One thousand and eight crew contested this year’s race and of those just 0.0178 have walked away winners. Ainsworth described the victory as “pure joy”.

Loki’s overall win is the culmination of an intense two-year program spearheaded by Ainsworth and his sailing master, the Irish-born Australian-based Gordon Maguire.

“It's a fantastic feeling,” said Ainsworth. “Having done 14 races I know how hard it is to win. So many things have to go right for you...the wind gods were with us this year!”

On their strategy Ainsworth said, “The aim for the navigators was to avoid stopping and we successfully did that. We came close a couple of times, but never stopped.

“We were quietly confident that we would win because it was a fading breeze, not a building breeze, and that worked for us.”

Loki is the Norse God of mischief and trickery. There could have been mischief aboard, but Loki’s win certainly did not come from trickery. It was carefully planned and executed.

Long-term navigator Michael Bellingham, who was named Navigator of the Year just prior to the start of this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart, has been a key ingredient in Loki’s winning recipe.

There was “nothing accidental” about the win, Bellingham said today.

“We did a lot of weather strategy on the dock. I had an overall game plan and we stuck to it.

“We looked at that first frontal system and determined where we wanted to be positioned so that we had a runway into Montague Island and then out again to find the (East Australian) current.

“We found it, got into it and it was one of the best I have experienced. It gave us up to 3.5 knots and extended well into Bass Strait, maybe 40 miles into the strait. It made for a choppier sea but we were willing to wear that.”

At this stage, he said, Loki was 30 to 40 nautical miles east of the rhumbline.

“Our next strategy was to tackle the south-westerly from Gabo. We decided not to worry too much about height.

“We were able to monitor what Oats, Loyal and Lahana were doing and to work out that Oats had a problem with wind rather than anything having gone wrong on the boat. We could see Lahana in some light pressure off Wineglass Bay.”

“The difficult thing was always going to be getting around Tasman in that south-west pattern but we did it and had a good trip up to the river and the finish.

“Oh, and no sleep helped,” Bellingham said.

Loki’s elapsed time was 2 days 14 hours 20 minutes 38 seconds for the 628 nautical mile ocean classic.

From the fleet of 88 yachts, 54 yachts are still to finish, with 11 boats having retired from the race.

Tomorrow the public will have the opportunity to acknowledge the overall winner and some of the divisional winners on the presentation stage at Constitution Dock at 11 am.

The official trophy presentation will be held at the RYCT on 1 January.

By Lisa Ratcliff/Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Stephen Ainsworth accepting the Tattersall's Cup and Yacht-Master timepiece from Patrick Boutellier (Rolex Australia) and Commodores Graham Taplin (RYCT) and Garry Linacre (CYCA). Photo by: ROLEX/Daniel Forster

A windless night off the Tasmanian south-east coast destroyed all prospects of Roger Hickman’s Wild Rose reaching Hobart in time to displace Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki as the overall winner of the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

It also meant there had been only 17 finishers by 9am this morning. At sea, some turned to humour.

Paul Clitheroe, the ‘Money Man’ best known for telling Australians how to make their fortunes, has a Rolex Sydney Hobart entrant named Balance, understandably.

But, after sitting in a millpond between Tasman Island and Cape Raoul off Tasmania’s south-east coast all of last night, Clitheroe applied his mind to the keyboard at his navigation station.

“Subject: Nothing.

“Now for something completely different. We enjoyed watching the sunset as we drifted next to Tasman Light. Roll forward some nine hours and we are enjoying sunrise at Cape Raoul. This represents a magnificent 9.8 nautical miles covered overnight.

“Storm Bay has been, in three of my Hobarts, a complete glass out. The other two, the waves so big you lost sight of the boats around you as you plunged down them.

“However, there is one benefit. I was telling my Hobart novices that they were lucky to see Tasman Island in the sunset, but I was sad they would miss the (Cape Raoul) organ pipes. Little did I expect they would see them at sunrise.

“Anyway, we have just started moving in the best breeze we have seen in 12 hours, a 3.5 knot northerly.

“Personally, I am really enjoying the views, but my navigator seems to be in need of a psychoanalyst upon arrival (we have hidden all sharp objects).

“Cheers, Paul”

Meanwhile, on board Wasabi, Bruce McKay emailed: “The big overnight event was the wind switching off. We have sailed the colour off the hull all night …

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. I had no sleep all night so just typing what I am told.”

By Bruce Montgomery, Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race media team

This morning at 8.40am Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki was declared the overall winner of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the race he has been trying to win for 12 years finally coming to fruition on his 13th try.

Ainsworth, who will hold the historic Tattersall’s Cup for the first time today, has had an amazing run with his Reichel/Pugh 63, Loki, culminating in the businessman being announced Ocean Racer of the Year (co-won with Geoff Boettcher, the 2010 Rolex Sydney Hobart winner). Loki’s navigator, Michael Bellingham, was crowned the Ocean Racing Navigator of the Year.

Loki’s stunning performances have included record-breaking trebles in the 2009 Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race and the 2010 Flinders Islet Race. Ainsworth and the yacht also sailed to a record-breaking line honours victory in the 2009 Cabbage Tree Island Race, although it was broken again by Wild Oats XI in 2010.

In 2010, Ainsworth’s super boat won the 2010 Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race and was crowned 2010 Audi IRC Australian champion to finish that year on a high note, with a final win at Hamilton Island.

The CYCA member was also crowned the 2010-2011 Blue Water Point Score champion after winning four of the seven-race series.

In September this year, Ainsworth added the Bird Island Race trifecta to his string of successes, breaking the 15 year-old record held by Brindabella.

Earlier this year, the Sydney yachtsman admitted that while he has enjoyed and felt fortunate in all of his wins and records, the one that had eluded him for 12 years was the 628-nautical mile Rolex Sydney Hobart. While the number 13 may be unlucky for some, for the affable Ainsworth, it proved to be a lucky number.

Michael Hiatt’s Farr 55, Living Doll, and Syd Fischer’s TP52, Ragamuffin, have been confirmed as second and third placegetters overall.

Roger Hickman and his crew of six men and six women watched their chances slide by early this morning after the wind shut down overnight, leaving Wild Rose stranded north-east of Tasman Island and 44 nautical miles from the finish line this morning – too far away to make the 8.12 am deadline to win the race. She is now due to finish this afternoon.

By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

At 11:00am on Friday 30 December, Stephen Ainsworth and his crew of the Reichel/Pugh 63 Loki, will be presented with the Tattersall’s Cup for their overall win in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Commodore Garry Linacre will present Ainsworth with the stunning sterling silver Tattersall’s Cup onboard Loki, with Patrick Boutellier, Rolex Australia managing director, presenting the Rolex Yacht Master II timepiece.

Perhaps the most popular arrival in Hobart today was Tony Lyall's Cougar II, the first Tasmanian boat to finish the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The TP52, which he has had for only one month, crossed the line in 13th position at about 7pm after a bruising race.

"It was tough race, very tough," Lyall said. "We had 36 hours on the nose in the first two days and last night it was quite nasty, 35 to 40 knots."

That meant sailing at times with the mainsail reduced to two reefs and a small number five headsail.

Lyall is a doctor at Beaconsfield in northern Tasmania and regularly campaigned his previous boat Valheru in racing on the Derwent in Hobart, a 600-km round trip each weekend he raced.

His search for a competitive TP52 finally ended when he bought the Victorian Cougar II, which was second overall in the 2008 Rolex Sydney Hobart in the hands of Alan Whiteley.

The 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart race was the first time his crew had raced together on the new boat.

It was the third TP52 to finish, behind Calm and Ragamuffin.

Now that he has the competitive boat he has always sought, Lyall plans to take it to major Australian regattas to take on the growing fleet of TP52s around the coast.

By Bruce Montgomery, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Throughout the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, two yachts names have kept appearing at the top of the overall standings – Loki and Wild Rose – and now it looks likely the two will replicate the thrilling line honours battle between Investec Loyal and Wild Oats XI, as they battle to win the Tattersall’s Cup.

Stephen Ainsworth and his Loki crew have proved themselves the offshore racers to beat over the two last seasons in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s major ocean races, breaking records along the way. The Reichel/Pugh 63 is a good boat sailed by an exceptional crew.

Wild Rose is a small 26 year-old Farr 43 that Roger Hickman and two partners won the Rolex Sydney Hobart with in 1993. This season has been a good one for ‘Hicko’, Tasmanian by birth, who lives in Sydney. The noted ocean racer won the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle and Gosford Lord Howe Island Yacht races this year.

Loki’s race finished in the early hours of this morning in the corrected time of 3 days 22hr 34min 32sec. Wild Rose has to finish the race by 8.12am tomorrow morning (Friday) to beat Loki.

Both are members of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, which hosts the Rolex Sydney Hobart and as each hour ticks away, Wild Rose will find it harder to overcome Loki’s time.

Ainsworth was having a late lunch at the quaint yachties haunt, the Shipwrights Arms at Battery Point this afternoon. The recently crowned Ocean Racer was getting increasingly nervous as the time ticked by.

Lunch and a few drinks combined with tiredness “has eased the pain,” he said, laughing nervously. “I quizzed my navigator (Ocean Racing Navigator of the Year, Michael Bellingham) just after 4.00pm and he said the wind was softening. It’s going to be a late night, I think…”

There are three others that have a slight opportunity of beating Ainsworth’s boat, but they will have to have the right conditions. All three are Beneteau designs, and the 20-24 knot southerly that hit the fleet again at 2.00am this morning, suited them down to the ground.

Two True, a Beneteau 40 that won the 2009 race overall for South Australian owner Andrew Saies is still in the running. And two Beneteau 45’s from NSW, Balance (Paul Clitheroe) and Victoire (Darryl Hodgkinson) could also make it in time, but they will need plenty of breeze to bring them home.

The trio needs to finish by 5.29am, 2.02am and 2.06am respectively if any are to win the 628 nautical mile race. And although all three have less than 88 nautical miles to make the finish, they are about to sail into lighter winds which could well kill their chances.

Jennifer Wells reported from Wild Rose this afternoon: “We’ve been up with the leaders (overall) most of the time. At approximately 2.30pm we were 75 nautical miles from Tasman Island in light and flukey winds.

“It’s been fabulous sailing down the east coast of Tasmania, but we’re hoping we’ll get better breeze. We’re ecstatic to be able to do so well in such an old boat (it’s 26) that won the race 1993,” she said. “The crew are very excited to sail on what was the original Wild Oats.”

“It was wet and rough the first night, especially off Pambula. It was quite easy coming across Bass Strait – easier than sailing down the south coast!”

By very early tomorrow morning the outcome will be known.

By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Roger Hickman's Wild Rose is in the race of her life this evening. Photo by: ROLEX/Daniel Forster

Investec Loyal is now officially the line honours winner of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race after the protest against her by the Race Committee was dismissed by the International Jury.

At 12.50pm today, the international jury informed Investec Loyal’s skipper, Anthony Bell, that it was quashing the protest lodged by the Race Committee over a conversation between Investec Loyal’s navigator Michael Coxon and an ABC helicopter crew.

Anthony Bell told reporters after the decision that the jury found that Investec Loyal had not sought any advantage when Coxon asked the ABC crew whether Wild Oats XI was flying a trysail and had received no advantage when told that she was not.

The jury process lasted nearly three hours. However, Bell said he was pleased that the process had been so thorough and that his win would now and forever be untarnished.

“For the crew, it's better to have a panel of our peers to come up with the answers,” he said.

“I’m really pleased that this is how it turned out.”

Wild Oats XI skipper, Mark Richards, had earlier declared his hope that the protest would go Investec Loyal’s way, saying that, as far as he and his crew were concerned, Loyal had won on the water and that was all there was to it.

Nevertheless, Bell said he believed it was important that the jury process had been properly worked through.

“As much as you say ‘we won on the water, don’t worry what happens in the room’, it does matter what happens,” he said.

Bell fully supported his tactician, Michael Coxon, who had apologised to his skipper for the interchange with the ABC helicopter crew.

“We got to where we did in this race because of Michael Coxon,” Bell said.

“Quite frankly, he was one of the key ingredients in making a boat that is probably slower in every wind angle than our opponent, get to the line fastest.

“It would be remiss of us to have anything but great feelings towards Michael, even if this didn’t go right, because we wouldn’t have been here in the first place without him.”

In its decision, the international jury said Coxon’s question to the ABC helicopter crew was “based on his concerns as a sailmaker involved in the construction of the mainsail on Wild Oats XI that was new technology and was a very expensive development sail. Its forerunner on another boat had failed.”

It continued:

“Michael Coxon, the CEO of North Sails Australia, therefore had a keen personal interest in its integrity and the information that the mainsail (the only one on board Wild Oats XI) was still being used, was of interest to Michael Coxon personally, but was of no ‘help’ to Investec Loyal as provided in rule 41.

“The jury is satisfied that the question asked by Michael Coxon was based on commercial concerns and not for reasons of ‘race information’ …”

By Jim Gale and Bruce Montgomery/Rolex Sydney Hobart media team.

By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

The Sydney yacht Victoire is the new leader on handicap in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race as attention today turns to the overall winner of the race and also to the protest room for a decision on whether Investec Loyal’s line honours win yesterday stands.

Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal remains the provisional line honours winner. However, the win is subject to a protest by the race committee that the boat received outside assistance on the first morning of the race when its tactician Michael Coxon asked an ABC helicopter crew about Wild Oats XI’s sail set up. Wild Oats, the five-time line honours winner, was then leading the race.

The protest, before an international jury of five, begins at 10am at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.

Darryl Hodgkinson’s Victoire, a Beneteau First 45, is only seconds ahead (on corrected time) of second-placed Wild Rose, Roger Hickman’s 26-year-old Farr 43, and an hour ahead of Andrew Saies Beneteau 40 Two True. All three still have many miles to sail before they reach Hobart.

Victoire has to finish by 12.40am tomorrow to beat fourth across the line Loki, which is already tied up in Hobart. At this morning’s position, she is due to cross the line at 10.40pm today.

Wild Rose won the 1993 Rolex Sydney Hobart while Two True, from the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia, won the 2009 race.

“Wouldn’t it be something for a South Australian boat to win the race three years in a row and for me to have won it twice,” Andrew Saies said.

Another South Australian boat, Secret Men’s Business, won last year.

At 8am five boats had finished: Investec Loyal, Wild Oats XI, Lahana, Loki and Hugo Boss. There were no more retirements overnight.

By Bruce Montgomery, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Could Two True win again? Photo by: ROLEX/Daniel Forster

While the battle for line honours has moved from the water to the committee room, at sea the race for the coveted Tattersall’s Cup, awarded to the handicap winner, is still very much a contest between crews, boats and the elements. And the elements, or more precisely, the wind on the Derwent River may yet be the final arbiter.

As Investec Loyal crossed the line in Hobart the race overall leader, Victorian Michael Hiatt's Farr 55 Living Doll was still a hundred miles from Constitution Dock. Second placed Syd Fischer on his TP52 Ragamuffin still had 130 miles to sail, while in third place Stephen Ainsworth's Reichel/Pugh 63 Loki was fast approaching Tasman Island.

All have to negotiate the notorious Derwent River, and most will do it in the dark or in the early hours of Thursday morning, which is not often a good time to be there.

The Derwent River has a habit of shutting down after midnight, and even as Investec Loyal and Wild Oats XI duelled their way up the final miles, the sea breeze was already dying. It is shaping up as a long, frustrating night for already tired crews.

If Loki can sneak past Tasman Island and up the river before the breeze completely collapses, she will be well placed against her divisional rivals, but it will be a close run thing. The yachts arriving at Tasman Island after midnight will most likely struggle.

The best placed 50 and 60 footers have plenty of time up their sleeves. They can tie up in Hobart late morning early afternoon and still beat the maxis on handicap. But the longer they take to finish, the more they will be threatened by the smaller boats behind them.

Roger Hickman's twenty six year-old Farr 43, Wild Rose, has had a sensational race. The upwind slog that has characterised so much of the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart has suited the IOR veteran to a tee, and she has rarely been out of the top handicap placings. Wild Rose is currently in fourth place, behind Loki, and still had 170 miles to sail as the crew of Investec Loyal relaxed and started to pack up the yacht.

Wild Rose' date with the Derwent is a still long way off and Hickman may find that he enjoys more wind on the run down the Tasmanian coast on Thursday than his bigger rivals saw today.

The same is true of the 40 to 45 foot Beneteaus around him.

By Jim Gale, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Investec Loyal’s line honours win is under threat following a protest by the Race Committee of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race this evening.

Investec Loyal crossed the finish line of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) 628 nautical mile race at 19.14.18 AEST in the time of 2 days 6hr 14min 18sec. Shortly after Anthony Bell’s super maxi crossed the finish line off Constitution Dock, a representative of the Race Committee, Howard Piggott, delivered the protest to Bell aboard his yacht.

The Race Committee is protesting Investec Loyal under Racing Rule of Sailing 41 that states: “The sail number of a boat which receives outside help will be notified to the Race Committee with details of the incident and a hearing may be held (if required) to determine any penalty. The penalty for Rule 41 shall be at the discretion of the Race Committee.”

The description of the incident on the protest form is as follows: “Audio recording of conversation between ABC helicopter and Investec Loyal seeking information from the helicopter of the sail plan in use on Wild Oats XI. In particular information as to whether Wild Oats XI was flying a trysail. This is assessed to breach 41 by soliciting help from an outside source.”

The Protest Hearing will be held by the International Jury at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania at 10.00 AEST tomorrow (Thursday).

Dockside after the race finish, Garry Linacre, the commodore of the CYCA, told the assembled crowd: “Some minutes ago I received this copy of a protest form. It is a protest form for the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2011, the organizing authority of the CYCA.

“The Race Committee, which is chaired by Tim Cox, has protested that rules may have been infringed on the 27th December at 06:30 hours, 30 nautical miles south of Merimbula. There is an ABC chopper pilot that is a nominated witness.

“I am very sorry about this event, I can assure you. Unfortunately, that has stopped our celebration here, as the result comes provisional until the protest is heard tomorrow,” he said.

“I would like to congratulate Investec Loyal on their magnificent sailing in this race, and also Wild Oats XI.

By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Anthony Bell’s Sydney super maxi Investec Loyal is the provisional line honours winner of the 67th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race after one of the closest finishes in the race’s history. She crossed the line just three minutes and eight seconds ahead of five-time line honours winner Wild Oats XI.

The result is provisional because the race committee has protested Investec Loyal for an alleged rule infringement involving outside assistance from an ABC helicopter crew about the sails Wild Oats XI was using on the first morning of the race. An international jury will hear the protest at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania tomorrow at 10am.

Investec Loyal was notified of the race committee protest minutes after it crossed the finish line at 7.14pm this evening.

The development came at the end of an absorbing 24 hour duel between the two, which culminated in a match race up the River Derwent, though Bell denied he had been match racing; he was sailing his own race.

Nevertheless, sailing before a dying south-easterly sea breeze, Investec Loyal covered every gybe that skipper Mark Richards aboard Wild Oats XI made several hundred metres behind.

Bell paid tribute to the crew he beat, saying Wild Oats XI was the benchmark of world sailing.

“This was one the greatest experiences of my life. It was exhilarating. The crew all believed they could win and in the cause [Loyal Foundation],” he said.

“It was an amazing trip. It was a nervous trip, all the way.”

Bell said he had one of the world’s best navigators in American Stan Honey.

“It was one hell of a race. We kept our cool under considerable pressure,” Bell said.

He said he was confident of winning in the protest room.

“We respect that there are rules in racing ... we are confident the outcome will confirm our victory in the race," he said.

For his part Richards said that no matter what happened in the protest room tomorrow, Investec Loyal had won the race.

“Those guys won on the water, we came second. That’s how we think about it. They deserve to win,” Richards said.

“Last night was a tough night. We had a fantastic lead and we ran into the new weather system and there was just no air. The other guys saw what was going on and just sailed around us.

“We clawed our way back and got into the lead again and the same thing happened at Tasman Island.

“You can’t pick that sort of stuff. When you are the lead boat you just don’t know where to go.”

In the annals of the race, it will be remembered as one of the best finishes. The three minute eight second margin is the fourth closest finish in its history. In 1982 Condor of Bermuda beat Apollo by seven seconds; in 1962 Ondine beat Astor by one minute; in 1949 Waltzing Matilda beat Margaret Rintoul by 1m 51 seconds.

By Bruce Montgomery and Jim Gale, Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race media team

Investec Loyal takes the finish cannon. Photo by: ROLEX-Daniel Forster

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours contest is shaping up to be a doozy and Wild Oats XI’s co-navigator Ian Burns believes overtaking opportunities may present themselves to Investec Loyal all the way to finish of this epic 628 nautical mile race.

The closest finish in the race’s history was in 1982 when Condor of Bermuda beat Apollo by seven seconds.

The 2003 race was another close one when Skandia beat Zana by 14 minutes 24 seconds. In 2007 Wild Oats XI beat City Index Leopard by 27 minutes 23 seconds and in 1997 Brindabella and Exile duelled in the river with Brindabella taking line honours by 9 minutes 28 seconds.

The Mark Richards-skippered Wild Oats XI regained the race lead this morning and is currently four nautical miles ahead of Anthony Bell’s same sized super maxi Investec Loyal.

“It’s tricky out here,” admitted Burns late this morning. “The good conditions we had running in for the last few hours have somewhat evaporated. We are just keeping the boat rolling along, which is quite a challenge.

“We've got Loyal quite close and to leeward. They are doing a nice job keeping their options open, keeping as much distance between us and them so that if they have an opportunity they can make the most of it.”

“The guys [on Wild Oats XI] are working hard; no-one’s complacent by any stretch. Loyal's throwing everything they've got at us. We've got a relatively good tactical position at the moment.

“I think everyone on our boat, and I'm assuming everyone on Loyal, has had a great lot of fun out of it. It’s about as good as it gets. It’s everything we could hope for in a race. I hope there's two boats in the [Derwent] river fighting it out.”

As far as their ETA, Burns says, “I've been telling everyone if we can be sitting down to dinner at Constitution Dock that would be wonderful.”

Yacht Tracker has them across the finish line at 6.30pm tonight. However, a report from Tasman Island at 1350hrs this afternoon advised the breeze has clapped out with no signs of new breeze and accordingly, the lead boats at 1400hrs had slowed to less than one knot of boat speed and the gap had narrowed once again to less than two miles.

Peter Millard and John Honan’s Sydney based 98 footer, Lahana Betchoice.com, is currently third in the fleet and second on handicap.

Stephen Ainsworth is missing one major trophy from his mantelpiece, the Tattersall’s Cup, and there’s a quiet confidence oozing from his navigator Michael Bellingham who spoke to the media recently as the champion RP63, Loki, was leading the pack on corrected time.

“I think we are well positioned for that [handicap]. We've had a fantastic race, we're very, very pleased with the boat. We're right where we want to be,” Bellingham said.

“At the moment we have a north-westerly breeze, at about 15 – 20 knots, half metre seas, clear skies and beautiful sailing conditions. We're doing 17 - 18 knots, heading straight towards Tasman Light.”

Bellingham also spoke of a strong wind warning with 20-30 knots forecast.

“The timing’s a bit unclear at the moment,” he said.

He also advised the boat had hit a sunfish, shark or small whale on the first day, forcing the boat to back up without any damage being sustained.

Michael Hiatt’s Victorian Farr 50 Living Doll is currently third on handicap.

There have been 11 retirements from the 88 starters that set out from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day. Monday 26 December.

By Lisa Ratcliff/Rolex Sydney Hobart media

Lahana has taken a lot of time out of the leaders. Photo by: ROLEX-Daniel Forster

Investec Loyal is clinging to a 1.8 nautical mile lead over Wild Oats XI as the two super maxi's play cat and mouse down the Tasmanian coast in light and fickle northerly breeze this morning.

Investec Loyal pounced on her line honours rival at approximately 8.00pm on Tuesday evening when Bob Oatley’s yacht, with Mark Richards at the helm, sailed into a patch of dead air, allowing Anthony Bell’s 100 footer to sail around her.

Now the roles are reversed with a forecast of very light and variable winds, including very large patches of no wind at all off Tasmania's coast for most of the day, which was evident in the short message from Wild Oats XI just after 6.30am.

It was reported from the five-time line honours and record holder: “We've got a yacht race on our hands out here! We are high speed running - more wind shifts ahead.”

It will be a day to test the mental toughness and stamina of the yachts' tacticians and navigators and the precision of the crews as they try to wring every fraction of a knot out of their boats in these light airs.

At least the distractions of a possible race record are behind them. The light winds ended that remote possibility once and for all last night.

Behind the super maxis at the tail end of Bass Strait, the 50 to 60 foot grand prix yachts, led by Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki, are sailing at 10 knots and less in a light and shifty northerly.

However, later this morning, those yachts are likely to find themselves in better pressure than the frontrunners, which will have the effect of closing the time gap on the line honours contenders.

The further north you are in Bass Strait the stronger the breeze, with the smaller boats in the fleet making good ground in the race for the Tattersall’s Cup, which is awarded to the overall winner of the race.

Crews on these smaller yachts will be hopeful that by the time they reach the Tasmanian coast, the High that is causing the fickle winds today will have moved on. If so, this could well be a small boat race.

The IRC handicap race is currently lead by the Victorian TP52 Calm (Jason Van Der Slot), with the 2009 overall winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Two True, the Beneteau 40 owned by Andrew Saies, currently second from the French entry L’Ange De Milon (Jacques Pelletier) in third.

Twelve yachts have now retired, with 76 yachts still racing. The latest casualty was Colin Woods’ Pretty Fly III, which dropped off a crew in Eden after he suffered a knee injury.

By Jim Gale, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Jason Van Der Slot’s TP52 Calm holds on the overall lead. Photo by: ROLEX-Kurt Arrigo

The two leading maxis in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race, Investec Loyal and five-times line honours winner Wild Oats XI were engaged in a fascinating match race 90 miles east of Flinders Island late tonight.

It is a contest of wills and tactics that is likely to decide which will be the first to Hobart, not before late tomorrow. If it is Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal, it will be only the second time in seven Hobart races that Wild Oats XI will have been beaten across the line. She lost to Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo in 2009.

Bell’s maxi, crammed with sporting and media personalities as well as seasoned Rolex Sydney Hobart veterans, is seeking revenge for her second place to Wild Oats XI in last year’s race.

Throughout today, she pegged back the lead that Oats’ skipper Mark Richards had established since the start in Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day. Loyal reeled in a lead of 20 nautical miles and went to the front this evening.

However, what tomorrow will reveal is whether Wild Oats XI is playing a tactical game, given that both crews know a wind hole of 50 to 60 nautical miles is forecast for the Tasmanian north-east coast in the early hours of the morning (Wednesday).

To use a pacing analogy, it is often useful to be one out and one back when approaching the final lap. The fate of the first of the maxis into the wind hole will determine the strategy and the course of the second.

Late last night Ray Sweeney’s Queensland-based Sydney 38 Mondo was leading the fleet on handicap.

There had been seven retirements – Celestial, Accenture Yeah Baby, Wild Thing, Duende, Ffreefire, Alacrity and llusion – leaving 81 boats at sea.

By Bruce Montgomery, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

The yachting chess game. Photo by: ROLEX-Kurt Arrigo

Matthew Percy’s Beneteau 44.7 Alacrity and Chris Bowling’s Davidson 34 Illusion are the two latest retirements from the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Alacrity has retired with rigging damage and is in Eden while Illusion, a former overall winner, retired with hull damage that is not major, and is heading for Sydney.

The youngest skipper in the fleet, 18 year-old Queenslander Chris Percy said, ”We were heading down the coast, off Eden, and we went to tack back and then there was a huge bang. We jumped into action and pulled the sails down.

“We have minor damage to the D1, but the mast is still up. Everyone's fine,” reported the disappointed youngster.

There is great rivalry between Chris and his younger brother Luke, a state swimmer. When asked what his brother would say of this unfortunate turn of events Chris said: "Probably better luck next time."

There are now 81 boats still at sea and Investec Loyal is within sight of Wild Oats XI with less than one nautical mile between the lead boats.

Wild Oats XI co-navigator Adrienne Cahalan said tonight, “We were expecting the race to start again and it has. It’s going to be a long and tough night.”

By Pip Daly, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Alacrity forced to retire with rigging damage. Photo by: ROLEX-Daniel Forster

Though the two leading boats in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race are separated by 10 nautical miles tonight as they close on Flinders Island at the eastern end of Bass Strait, an epic match race develops between them.

Five-time line honours winner Wild Oats Xl leads Anthony Bell’s super maxi Investec Loyal by that margin but, in many ways, Investec Loyal holds the advantage because the weather charts show the wind dying off the Tasmanian north-east coast.

According to Wild Oats Xl co-navigator Ian ‘Fresh’ Burns, an anticipated 50-60 nautical mile hole in the wind will enable Investec Loyal, sitting on her hip to the east, to watch and wait to see what happens to her nemesis. Wild Oats Xl beat her into second place in last year’s race. Ten miles is not a great distance to make up in modern ocean racing.

“They are likely to play a game of cat and mouse. They have plenty of leverage out there,” Burns said. “If ever there was an opportunity in a yacht race, tonight is the night.”

He explained that this was because the following boat could see what was going on ahead, take evasive action and sail around the leading boat.

“They will throw everything at us,” Burns said, a situation made worse by valuable minutes lost during the day when the race leader hit a sun fish and had to back the boat up to allow the fish to swim off the keel.

A fading south-westerly breeze faces the leading boats during the night, while the rest of the remaining fleet of 83 continues to contend to with headwinds up the NSW coast.

While the two race leaders play games tonight off Flinders Island, the smaller yachts will still be working their way down the New South Wales coast or launching across eastern Bass Strait.

Right now the race for handicap is finely balanced between the biggest boats in the fleet and the more homely 40-footers far behind them. If the super maxis can thread their way down the Tasmanian coast in better air than the forecasts are predicting, they will be very hard to beat on handicap.

Peter Millard and John Honan’s 98 footer Lahana, with her rating advantage over Investec Loyal and Wild Oats XI, is looking particularly threatening.

If the big boats find themselves in the doldrums there will be some cheering from the back of the fleet. It has been a testing race for the front runners, but it has been far tougher for the crews still battling down the mainland coast.

From the time the southerly front first moved through last night to when they break free of the mainland, they will have barged their way through a relentless southerly in a cantankerous seaway.

“The sun came out a short time ago for the first time, which is very nice,” a laconic Dirk Johnson reported from the veteran American 48-footer, Carina, this afternoon.

“It was a little bit bumpy last night. There were bigger waves than we're used to seeing, but all in all the boat went fine and everybody did good and held on.

“A few people haven't been feeling the best but the sun's out and everybody's rallied. Now it looks like we'll have everything from south-westerlies at 15 to 20 knots to easterlies at five [knots]."

Yet it has been that relentless bash to windward that has put the less fancied tortoises up at the top of the race leaderboard all day. Sometimes Lahana has been in pole position but, as often as not, the lead has been shared by the likes of Carina, Darryl Hodgkinson's Beneteau 45 Victoire, Roger Hickman's venerable Farr 43 Wild Rose and Robbo Robertson's Lunchtime Legend, a Beneteau 40.

In a grinding, slow and steady race like this 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart these boats gain a huge amount of time over the modern hares in the handicap chase. And to stretch the analogy a bit, if the greyhounds at the front have a slow night, the stayers at the back will be happy.

A tired-sounding Brad Kellett reported from Brindabella at 4.40pm: “We passed Green Cape and got into Bass Strait about 3.30pm. We’re in a beautiful sou’ wester of 29 knots – and we’re travelling at 10 knots, but we’d like to be going faster.

It’s glorious sailing – the wind’s been building since Green Cape and Gabo Island.”

Five boats have retired, including Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing, which suffered sail damage and headed back to Sydney. Another casualty was the Sydney boat Duende, which retired after pulling into Bermagui with crewman Tom Wormald suffering a dislocated shoulder. Also on board is record Hobart racer Tony Cable, competing in his 46th race.

This afternoon the Hong Kong-based TP52 Ffreefire 52 retired with mainsail damage and headed back to Sydney.

Just after dawn this morning, as the first of the morning’s helicopters hovered into sight in eastern Bass Strait, Wild Oats XI scattered more of the ashes of the man regarded as the guardian angel of the Hobart fleets over the years, Gary Ticehurst, the ABC helicopter pilot killed in an air crash this year.

By Jim Gale and Bruce Montgomery/Rolex Sydney Hobart media

Brindabella slices her way down the east coast. Photo by: ROLEX/Daniel Forster

Bob Oatley’s super maxi Wild Oats XI still leads the Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet and moved into first place on handicap as conditions started to take their toll late this morning. As the day wears on and the winds ease however, they will struggle to maintain pace.

Grant Wharington’s Queensland 98 footer, Wild Thing, which has had a chequered Rolex Sydney Hobart history including a line honours win in 2003, is the latest to retire from racing, bringing the total number to three from 88 starters.

Wild Oats XI is trucking south across eastern Bass Strait at close to 20 knots of boat speed in a 22 knot south westerly. The mid-sized boats which were, this morning, in top shape on handicap, have slipped back as they travel a third of the speed of the front runners.

There is now a 14 nautical mile stretch between Wild Oats XI and Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal.

At 1255hrs this afternoon, Investec Loyal’s navigator Stan Honey reported comfortable 2.5 metre seas and a 24 knot SW breeze.

Investec Loyal is further west of the rhumbline as they look for a tactical advantage by skirting around the light patch which lies ahead, and taking a different path to Wild Oats XI. When it comes to a drag race between the two 100 footers, Bell knows all too well that Mark Richards and his crew can’t be chased down. Richards has to make a mistake or the team on Investec Loyal has to outthink him tonight.

“Tonight is going to be mentally tough for everyone on the boat as we track through the light weather and cover Loyal. They are probably going to try and sail us into a flat spot,” said Wild Oats XI’s co-navigator Ian ‘Fresh’ Burns as they were barrelling south.

Burns reported they were sailing with three reefs in the mainsail and a number 4 headsail.

Anthony Bell has reported seasickness among the crew, which includes a number of high profile sporting and entertainment personalities as well as A-list America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race sailors, but not severe enough to stop anyone getting out of their bunk.

“We are just trying to stay in contact with Oats,” said Bell who also reported a broken reef line that has meant they can only go to two reefs in the mainsail and has cost them some time. With conditions expected to abate it won’t be long before reefs are shaken out.

Winds are expected to go light and variable off the north east Tasmanian coast this afternoon as a high pressure system that is moving across the state starts to affect the fleet.

Marc and Louis’ GP42 Accenture Yeah Baby was the second retirement, this morning just after 10am when they reported gear failure.

Other quotes from the fleet

Brad Kellett on Brindabella received 9.00am

“I’m wet, tired and emotional already,” he said laughing. “Everything is going well – Jazz is 200m to windward of us. Living Doll is 1 to 1½ miles inshore and slightly ahead and we’re a mile ahead of Calm. We’re very happy with how we’re going and concentrating on the job at hand. Our tracker got swamped all night, but people should be able to track us on the Rolex Sydney Hobart website now, because we’ve got the tracker working again.

“We’re sailing under a full main and No. 4 headsail, but we’re still taking a bit of a pounding and launching off waves in an 18-20 knot southerly. We’re driving, bailing and cooking all at the same time – everyone’s busy – we’ve got to drive as fast and hard as we can.”

Bruce McKay on Wasabi received 9.20am

“It’s cold and wet out here. We tore a hole in our main around 9 o’clock last night after an issue with our kite. The guys had to pull it down in the big southerly and get it below and repair it – they sticky-backed it. Our JF antenna failed too, so I spent two hours this morning re-wiring it – David Kellett (on the radio relay vessel) was very pleased to hear from us and said ‘Good, it’s working - no point you guys going past Green Cape without it!’ Now we’re 20nm north of Montague Island in a 15-16 knot southerly bouncing our way down the coast in a choppy sea – and I’m glad at least we’re still in the race.”

By Lisa Ratcliff/Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI continues to lead the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet early this morning; Mark Richards has skippered the super maxi to a 10 nautical mile advantage over Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s annual blue water classic after sailing in rough southerly winds overnight.

Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing (Qld) and Peter Millard/John Honan’s Lahana were giving chase, 13 and 19 nautical miles astern of Investec Loyal. The top 15 yachts reported winds of up to 30 knots last evening around 6.00pm.

Mark Richards said from Wild Oats XI this morning “We are through the worst of it,” and this morning were sailing in a 15 knot southerly 14 nautical miles east of Green Cape. They are expected to enter Bass Strait after 10.00am this morning.

Aboard Lahana, Carl Crafoord, navigator and 25 Hobart race veteran said just after 7.00am today: “We had a good night; no problems. We took time out of Wild Thing and we’ve shaken off Loki. It was very lumpy last night though – we finally shook our reef out at 6.40am.

“Now we’re sailing with a full main and a Code Zero sailing in a 20 knot sou’ wester. We expect to enter Bass Strait around midday,” Crafoord said.

“The seas were very confused,” Matt Allen reported from his Jones 70, Ichi Ban, which is 12th on line and surrounded by the top TP52’s, Jason Van Der Slot’s Calm (Vic), Ragamuffin (Syd Fischer) and Rob Hanna’s Shogun (Vic).

Despite the lumpy seas and winds of up to 30 knots, there was only one retirement overnight. Shortly before midnight, Sam Haynes retired Celestial from the race after breaking the gooseneck (it holds the mainsail boom and mast together). All aboard are well and the boat is due back at the CYCA today. The fleet is now at 87.

Meanwhile, although a little premature to talk up overall contenders, Wild Rose (Roger Hickman) is leading the chase with his Farr 43 which won the race overall in 1993. Two Beneteau 45’s are behind him; race favourite, Victoire (Darryl Hodgkinson) and near sistership Balance (Paul Clitheroe) in second and third respectively.

The three are just beyond Batemans Bay with fourth placed Alacrity, the Beneteau 44.7 owned by Olympian Matt Percy, who reported at 7.30am: “Pretty lumpy and wet working our way down the coast. We are fairly close inshore, just off Bateman's Bay. We have a couple of other boats in sight to make it interesting, but not sure who they are.

“The breeze is a lot more left than expected and we are nearly laying down the rhumbline. We have one reef and the No. 4 headsail up and going nicely.

Meanwhile, Michael Bellingham reported from Loki late yesterday: “We are just North of Point Perpendicular. Boat and crew all good; we hit a sunfish or large object about two hours ago and went from top speed down to 3 knots. We had to drop the kite and go head to wind to clear and ensure no damage. It was very big and made a loud bang when we hit.”

At 7.45am, Anthony Bell reported from Investec Loyal “We expect the 20 knot southerly to continue – we’ll be in Bass Strait this morning – we’re working the two Phils (Waugh and Kearns) hard and all the celebrities are handling the conditions well.

“We expect the race to get very tactical down the Tasman coast; which will make the race interesting.”

By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

 The 88 yachts in the Rolex Sydney Hobart are still experiencing pleasant downwind sailing conditions at 1800 hours AEST, with up to 16 knots from the north and north-east driving the fleet southwards, but the southerly is on the way, as expected.

Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI with Mark Richards at the helm continues to lead Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal by around 3 nautical miles with Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing from Queensland giving chase a further 3nm astern.

Wild Oats XI reported just before 1800 hours that Ian Smith and John Hildebrand had repaired their main winch and the super maxi was sailing along at 15-16 knots under spinnaker in pleasant conditions around 45nm off Nowra on the NSW South Coast.

According to Mark Richards, the biggest challenge was to fix the winch before the southerly hit the fleet later this evening. Repairing bashing into the wind and squalls would have made the job almost impossible.

Richards said that with no moon out tonight and a lot of cloud cover, the crew would keep their heads out of the boat and keep a look out.

Tactician, Grant Simmer, said that if Wild Oats XI could get around the change and the next low, he feels they could win the race overall.

Further back in the fleet, the fight is also on for the overall win. Tony Kirby reported from his X-41, Patrice Six: “We had a great start at the pin end and a few tacks later we were sailing in clear air. The sea state is good now, it’s relatively flat and we’re happy with our lot,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the Sydney 38 Dodo, skipper Adrian Dunphy said they had also got a great start near Patrice Six and the only mishap they had suffered was to blow up one of their Dodo bird spinnakers. “It’s now an extinct Dodo,” he quipped.

Aboard the Beneteau 45, Balance, owner/skipper Paul Clitheroe reported: “All quiet as the southerly approaches. Balance had a very nice start, avoided trouble (for a change) and made the rounding mark third behind Victoire (Balance’s near sistership and race favourite) and a Volvo 60 (Merit from Queensland).

“We and Victoire have pushed out to sea more than most of our division. It does not look so great now, but we hope to get leverage as the southerly hits. We are bumbling along together at around 9 to 10 knots,” he said.

“The crew are eating early; some taking sea sickness tablets and donning wet weather gear and PFD's. We know what is to come; we did the bashing into the wind thing for three days going to Lord Howe last year. Shortly we will get a big drop in pressure which will give us a chance to get the kite down and prepare a small headsail and our reefing lines.

“It will look a little odd being all reefed down before the southerly hits, but better to be ready early, I destroyed two sails in one night a few Hobarts ago, and that is a bad plan. We and the Beneteau 45 love hard on the nose conditions and we hope to be looking in good shape as tomorrow unfolds.....and not in Eden,” said the Money Man who has been renamed the ‘Funny Man’.

There have been no retirements to-date and no major damage reported, but that could turn around if the predicted southerly hits as hard as some skippers think.

By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Photo above by: ROLEX-Daniel Forster

Photo below by: ROLEX-Kurt Arrigo

Despite her electric mainsail winch failing just 11 minutes before the start of the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart, Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI led the rest of the 88 boat fleet through Sydney Heads.

In the final minutes before the start, Wild Oats XI’s mainsheet was led through headsail winches as crew frantically worked below decks on the winch’s electronic drive. The pressure didn’t prevent Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards winning the start at his favourite pin, or western end of the start line.

Just metres behind the five-time Rolex Sydney Hobart honours line winner was Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal, the biggest threat to Richard’s ambition of a sixth line honours victory on the silver grey racer.

Bell declared before the race that he would go for broke, putting as much pressure on the race favourite as possible, and he began the race the way he intends to sail it, forcing Wild Oats XI to tack back to the west as she tried to get away from the tightly packed spectator fleet under Clifton Gardens.

Eventually, with all her winches back on line as they approached Sydney Heads and after slam dunking Investec Loyal as the two boats tacked towards the turning mark, Wild Oats XI seemed to hit her stride at last and began inching away from her rival.

Once around the seaward mark Wild Oats XI was the first to set her spinnaker as she turned towards Hobart, scything through a confused and difficult seaway in around 15 knots of nor’easterly breeze.

Third out of the harbour was Grant Wharington’s super maxi Wild Thing, ahead of Stephen Ainsworth’s 63 footer Loki. Loki had by far the best start of the grand prix yachts in the 50 to 60 foot range, which in recent years have been the most fancied for the coveted trophy in Australian yachting, the Tattersall’s Cup, awarded to the handicap winner.

While the biggest boats enjoyed a thrilling start, the early minutes were not quite so smooth for the smallest boat in the fleet, Sean Langman’s 30 foot, 79 year-old Maluka of Kermandie. Maluka and Jarrod and Catrina Ritchie’s luxurious Beneteau 57 cruiser, Alchemy III, were a little too enthusiastic at the start and had to return for a second start after crossing the line early.

Another of the littlies, the 34-foot Illusion, a former overall winner, put herself a shade too close to the turning mark and had to perform a 360 degree revolution in penance, while the veteran American Carina was seen completing a 720 degree pirouette after her own indiscretion.

At 2.35pm this afternoon Patrice Six skipper Tony Kirby said, “we have gone out to sea with a few others. Rain’s on the way the sea state has really settled down. We were very happy with our pin end start and after a few tacks we got away well.”

By Jim Gale/Rolex Sydney Hobart media

Photo by:ROLEX-Daniel Forster

The 88-strong Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet will kick off this afternoon in a brisk 15-20 knot nor’easterly breeze and enjoy a whale of a ride for the first few hours. But by late afternoon the southerly front that hit Melbourne yesterday will reach the race leaders and by late evening it will have worked its way through the rest of the fleet.

The front will bring winds 20 to 30 knot winds and the southerly is expected to last right through Tuesday. Yet it may not be the wind so much as the sea state that will make life difficult for the sailors. Ex tropical cyclone Fina has created a five metre plus northerly swell, and as the wave winds caused by the southerly build, it will make for a very uncomfortable and at times treacherous cross sea, with waves coming from all directions.

For the front runners like line honours favourite Wild Oats XI, it may mean slowing the boat down to keep it and the gear and the boat in one piece. For the smaller boats strung out along the New South Wales coast it will mean many hours of wet, uncomfortable bashing to windward in a bit of a washing machine with fatigue and sea sickness taking their toll.

On the other side of the front, light changeable south and south westerly breeze will greet the fleet in Bass Strait, which at times could threaten to develop into a parking lot.

Across Bass Strait and down the Tasmanian coast the navigators will come into their own. They will have to position their yachts perfectly for the shifts, and make the right call off the Tasmanian coast, which could throw a wind shadow over boats that get too close.

Whether this will develop into a big boat or a small boat race on handicap will depend on how far south the super maxis can get before reaching the front, and therefore how much distance they can put on the rest of the fleet, and what sort of weather the 40 footers discover on days three and four when the big boys are tied up in Hobart.

Today’s 1pm start will be broadcast on Network 7, webcast on Yahoo!7 and throughout the Asia Pacific region on the Australia Network.

By Jim Gale/Rolex Sydney Hobart media

Photo by: ROLEX-Kurt Arrigo

Each year when the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race competitors head to sea, one of the rare comforts is knowing that the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Radio Relay Vessel is accompanying them and keeping them safe; the ‘eyes and the ears’ of the race until the last yacht reaches Constitution Dock in Hobart – and for two of the team, there will be a special interest in the race - their sons.

Ask any sailor worth their salt what makes them feel safe during the race, especially through the harsher periods that come each year, and they will tell you it is the Radio Relay Vessel (RRV). For the seventh year, John Winning, one of the sport’s biggest supporters, has loaned the use of his beautiful motor cruiser, JBW.

David Kellett, with 37 Hobart’s worth of experience, including two line honours wins, one of which was the double line and overall win on Bernard Lewis’ Sovereign in 1987, leads an experienced team aboard JBW, named for Winning’s late father and great sailor, John Berry Winning, or ‘Chocko’, as he was known to mates and sailors.

Kellett’s companions are also some of the best seamen around, and include two crewmen coming up for their 25th Hobart’s; John Woodford and Dave ‘Hoddo’ Hodgson. They will receive medallions for their efforts once they are in Hobart.

Others on the team are; Colin Wildman (42 Hobarts), Bruce ‘Gouldy’ Gould (41) Col ‘Tip-Toes’ Tipney (28), all of whom raced to Hobart with Kellett during the 1980’s, as did Woodford. They are joined by Hobart veteran navigator, Rob ‘Scriv’ Scrivenor (18), Richard Winning, a well-known yachtsman and cousin of the boat’s owner, and JBW’s competent skipper, Andrew ‘Steak’ Copley.

As head of the RRV team on JBW, it is Kellett who conducts the thrice daily fleet skeds and monitors any problems that crop up, talking with competitors throughout the race.

The past Vice President of ISAF is also in a fairly unique position in that his son Brad is the navigator aboard racing yacht, Brindabella. As such, Brad is the person aboard the yacht (the last conventionally ballasted yacht to win the famous race in 1999) who speaks to Kellett on the radio when the race skeds, or position reports, are conducted.

“It’s nice to be out there with him (Brad) knowing what he’s going through,” Kellett said. “Like all parents, you like to support your children. You take an interest in your children and what they’re doing - and we’re fortunate to have this interest in common,” he says.

For Brad’s part, he could not speak more highly of Dad. “I did my first three Hobart races with Dad, then I started getting rides on other boats and making my own career, but it’s really nice having him at the other end of the radio. It’s straightforward, because we know each other so well,” says Brad, who sailed his first race as a 16 year-old (well before the minimum 18 years of age rule came into effect).

“It’s fantastic having him there; he’s most professional on the radio. I remember in the 2000 race aboard Ausmaid letting him know we were getting sleet and 70 knots of wind. It went from a voice on the phone to a voice I know and trust implicitly,” Brad says.

“It’s like Gary (Ticehurst, who was tragically killed in a chopper accident in August), we’ll all really miss him this year. It was always a great uplift having him buzz us from overhead – and I’ll miss the chats we used to have through the race,” the 35 year-old added.

Being involved on the RRV is different to actually participating in the race, as Kellett is all too well aware. “I do wish I was back in the race. When the CYCA asked me to take this job on the Radio Relay Vessel in 1999, I thought I’d be doing it for a couple of years, but here I am 11 years later,” says Kellett, who has had a passion for the Rolex Sydney Hobart since he was a boy of eight or nine.

“We lived in Mosman, so we’d go to Clifton Gardens to watch the start. I was around 16 when Boy Messenger took me on a couple of races and steered me in the right direction. I did my first Hobart race with Charlie Middleton on Calliope in 1968,” says Kellett.

During his years as head of the RRV team, Kellett and his crew have had to deal with some serious issues, such the keel falling off Wild Thing in the 2004 race, and the sinkings of Koomooloo in 2006 and Georgia in 2008, among others.

“We had a fair bit on at those times; helping co-ordinate the rescue of those crews and maintaining contact with the crews, authorities and the CYCA throughout,” Kellett said.

JBW crew member, ‘Scriv’, also has his son Robert contesting the race aboard the super maxi line honours contender, Investec Loyal. From three generations of Hobart sailors all bearing the name Robert, ‘Scriv’s’ dad Bob raced five Hobarts and did three more on the RRV, while’ Scriv’ raced 15 as a navigator and has had three more on the JBW, while young Rob is coming up for his fifth race.

JBW, named after John’s father, the well-known sailor John Berry Winning (Chocko to all who knew him) is a long range displacement motor yacht. She was conceived by John and master craftsman Ian Perdriau with the lines drawn by Faustman, resulting in a very sea-kindly and comfortable vessel of 20 metres. And she is beautifully appointed below decks.

Built of Oregon planking on Queensland maple frames covered with epoxy fibreglass sheathing, she was launched in 1997 after being christened by John’s mother, Davida.

Accommodation consists of a master cabin with ensuite aft, a double cabin with ensuite forward under the wheelhouse, alongside a twin guest cabin and a twin crew cabin. As would be expected when associated with Winning Appliances, every mod convenience conceivable is in the galley, which adjoins the main saloon.

While to some it might look like a cruise, the reality is that a motor yacht has a very different motion to a sailing yacht at sea, particularly in a blow, and is not as pleasant as the motion of a yacht.

The RRV team are on the go 24 hours a day covering the fleet, conducting the position and safety skeds and the Green Cape safety check with yachts, relaying the positions and other information to and from Race Control at the RYCT, collecting weather updates and talking with the media about the conditions at sea.

Then, of course, the crew gives handicap and other sporting results where possible, not to mention keeping the vessel going.

By Di Pearson/Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

Photo by: ROLEX-Kurt Arrigo

Storms that lashed Victoria last night may cost some of the highly fancied yachts in the Rolex Sydney Hobart their chance of victory.

Many of the crews are stranded at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport having spent Christmas at home with their families and are now dependent on airlines getting off the ground to get them to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in time to jump aboard their yachts for the 628 nautical mile race.

Michael Hiatt’s Farr 55, Living Doll, Rob Date’s Reichel/Pugh 52 Scarlet Runner, Jason Van Der Slot’s TP52 Calm and Bruce Taylor’s Caprice 40, Chutzpah are all affected and the latter two include crew stranded who are coming up for their important 25th Hobart races.

Taylor was madly running around the CYCA, host to the race this morning, trying to organise food, wet weather and equipment for his yacht that have not arrived, stuck with crew at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport. The Victorian, who is setting off on his 31st race south, with his son Drew sailing his 20th, is still hopeful that his missing crew will arrive in time to start the famous race.

“Gavin Gourley, one of my 25er’s is still to fly in, we’re keeping our fingers crossed both guys will make it. If not, I will sail the boat with the eight I have,” Taylor said at the CYCA this morning.

“I’ve got someone chasing food – it’s hard to find a supermarket open at this hour (6.40am Boxing Day morning) and we’re short wet weather and thermal gear and other stuff,” commented Taylor who added: “I feel lucky to be here, I think I was on the last plane in last night, we touched down just before 11.00pm.”

There are (perhaps superstitiously) 13 Victorian yachts in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart and so far, only the yacht Shogun, Rob Hanna’s TP52 is the only one with a full complement of crew, but even he is affected, as some wet weather gear is still on its way here.

Most of the interstate crews in the race head home for Christmas to spend precious time with their families and return to the CYCA on Christmas night or Boxing Day morning.

The CYCA’s commodore, Garry Linacre, said the Club would do all it could to help those affected to chase down food, wet weather gear etc. in time for the 1.00pm start.

The CYCA’s clothing supplier, MUSTO, very kindly offered to provide those crew missing wet weather gear and thermals with what they require, driving to the factory and delivering it to the Club this morning. Both Taylor and Hanna were very touched by the gesture as they continued working to organise fresh food for the trip.

By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team

“It doesn’t look like a big boat race to me,” said Wild Oats XI tactician, Iain Murray, of the super maxi’s handicap chances following this morning’s official race briefing.

“We’ll barrel out of Sydney and get some leverage to the east,” said Murray, referring to the nor’easterly breeze that is meant to follow the fleet for the first six to 12 hours after the 1pm start prior to the front runners striking the weak edge of a southerly change.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s regional director NSW, Rob Webb, reaffirmed the fleet will run into a forgiving southerly off the NSW south coast, but not before the wind backs off in between the two systems where “you might get more time to know each other,” he mused to competitors.

Southerly winds are expected to build into Tuesday to 20-25 knots, possibly stronger the further south the yachts travel into Bass Strait where waves from opposing directions will join together and where “you are going to have some fairly erratic sea conditions” suggested Webb this morning.

By day two, Wednesday 28 December, winds are forecast to ease as they swing left from the south east back to the north east, creating what Murray calls “sketchy” conditions off the east Tasmanian coast.

“It will come down to what happens in Bass Strait, it could turn into a big parking lot,” he warns.

While a race record is not a talking point this year, Murray affirmed today that “Wild Oats XI has never been in better shape”. The crew are estimating a race time of 2 days 4-5 hours for the 628 nautical mile sprint across the Tasman Sea.

Loki’s navigator, Michael Bellingham, is predicting the overall winner will come from the 40 to 60 foot range. At 63 feet, the Reichel Pugh design owned by Stephen Ainsworth that has won every other major trophy on the Australian east coast, bar this race, is hoping to sneak into that window of opportunity and finally claim the overall win.

“I’m buoyed by the forecast I’ve seen this morning,” said Bellingham. “Half way across [the Strait] to the finish will be interesting....”

Loki’s crew hope to be in Hobart early on the 29th December, before the light and patchy winds plague the Tassie east coast, adding an element of pot luck to the closing stages, which is where the overall win has slipped out of the hands of so many over the race’s 66 year history.

Rolex Sydney Hobart debutante, Leander Klohs, crew boss of Damien Parkes’ JV52 Duende, was in esteemed company when she sat between Hugo Boss skipper Alex Thomson and Iain Murray at this morning’s press conference. Leander is one of 77 women from 1008 crew contesting this year’s race, including three women skippers and at least nine navigators.

Santa will visit some of the international competitors at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia tomorrow. On race day, Monday 26 December, at least two crew from each of the 88 yachts rearing to go will attend the final compulsory weather briefing at 8.30am at the host club.

By Lisa Ratcliff/Rolex Sydney Hobart media