Clear runway to Hobart

Wild Oats XI lines up for second consecutive line honours win as damaged Skandia drops out of the running

Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI, the 2005 line honours, handicap and course record setter, continues to lead the 69 remaining boats competing in the Rolex Sydney Hobart towards the finish line. At 7.10pm local time today the race favourite was mid-way across Bass Strait, and was rapidly extending her lead over Grant Wharington's second placed Skandia - up to 23 miles at 20:10 local time.

This afternoon Wild Oats XI's navigator Adrienne Cahalan, finally made contact, describing the sea state as "very rough" with the wind up to 25-30 knots. "It is a close race with Skandia so both boats are fighting very hard," she said.

While the race may have been close between the 30m supermaxis in the race for line honours, this will not remain the case for long. At 13:35 local time today, while she was just 3 miles astern of Wild Oats XI, Skandia broke her daggerboard - unlike the CBTF system on Oats and the twin assymetric board on the VO70s, Skandia is fitted with a 5m long single centrally mounted board to prevent leeway.

Skipper Grant Wharington and his crew heard a loud bang and saw their daggerboard floating away on the windward side of the boat. “We have no idea what happened - we may have hit something we really don’t know at this stage – all we know is that we heard a very loud crack and then the guys saw it floating away," said Wharington. "Although this is not fatal to our race, our performance will really suffer from this injury. We will need to sail lower and slower - basically we won’t be able to sail right at the target anymore as the boat just goes sideways - and we wont be able to power her up. Given this is going to be an upwind race it is a real blow to our chances of a second line honours victory." Skandia won line honours in the race three years ago.

Wharington continued: "We are currently experimenting with the level of keel cant to maximise our performance: we have the keel at 20 degrees (half of the 40 degree cant it is capable of), but it looks like we may have to reduce that even further to about 15 degrees. We’ve got about 10 degrees of leeway at the moment, we are not laying course. You will certainly start to see some separation between us and Wild Oats now. I guess given the carnage of last night we should be grateful - but it’s really frustrating given how well were going, and the conservative way we have been sailing.”

Meanwhile Wharington's old Volvo steed, now Matt Allen's VO70 Ichi Ban looks set to overtake Skandia - at 20:10 she was less than 10 miles astern and closing rapidly. Interestingly Ichi Ban is also leading the race at present under handicap.

Considerable variations are emerging over the weather lying ahead over the next 24 hours for competitors. Whatever happens it is likely to be complex tactically: the GFS model show a weak cold front is set to pass over the eastern Bass Strait tonight and into tomorrow morning. This is likely to see the wind drop, fill in from the northeast giving them a few brief hours of running before the wind drops again and reverts once again to the south as they feel the first effects of the high pressure system over the Great Australian Bight coming their way.

And back to the carnage...

After 78 yachts started the Rolex Sydney Hobart yesterday lunchtime, the fleet is now down to 69 yachts following the latest retirement of Philip King's Salona due to steering problems. The Cookson 50, Living Doll, David Pescud's Lyons 54, Sailors With Disabilities, Bruce Taylor's Sydney 38 Chutzpah, and Peter Mooney's Sydney 47 Endorfin have also retired with steering or rudder issues while the 40-footer Mr Kite has retired with rig problems.

Following the dismastings earlier this morning of ABN AMRO and Maximus, the Australian rescue authorities were once again alerted this morning to the plight of Mike Freebairn's 1968 overall Sydney Hobart winner, Ray White Koomooloo.

Sailing in a 22 knot southwesterly, Freebairn's 41 footer fell off a backless wave and soon after started flooding. "We did everything we could to save the boat," commented her skipper. "We started ripping up the floor boards trying to find where the water was coming in. We couldn't locate the problem. We started bailing for a while, then I decided for the safety of the crew that we'd better abandon." Freebairn was devasted at having to leave his boat, his pride and joy for the last 10 years and to which he has carried out a nut and bolt restoration.

Ray White Koomooloo's skipper and crew transferred via liferaft to the British services 67ft Challenge yacht, Adventure at 1100 local time. While the yacht was still floating at the time they abandoned her, Freebairn was not expecting her to stay afloat for much longer. From Adventure the stricken crew were transferred to a police launch at 1300. The police launch was then en route to the 1988 overall Rolex Sydney Hobart race winner, Illusion, to transfer off skipper Graham Jackson, who is believed to have broken some ribs.

This evening Maximus is in Ulladulla, 100 miles south of Sydney. All but one of her crew are now out of hospital. ABN AMRO One is currently under engine and jury rig and is also due into Ulladulla this evening to pick up fuel.