The two Reichel/Pugh designs, Wild Oats X and Wild Joe , one Bob Oatley's current boat and the other his former boat now owned by Steven David, are neck and neck in the Audi Sydney Gold Coast with the finish shaping up to be one of the most exciting in the event's 22 year history.

The two crews will be eye balling each other across the water while the navigators and tacticians huddle together working out how to squeeze that bit extra out of the boat. With 42 nautical miles to the finish, their race has just re-started.

Wild Oats X and Wild Joe are recording almost identical boat speeds and are in good pressure closer inshore off Cape Byron while Matt Allen's Ichi Ban , which headed out to sea hoping for a miracle, is now struggling in light air some eight miles astern of the front runners.

The breeze at the finish line off Southport's Main Beach is currently 5-10 knots out of the sou'west.

The ETA for the first boat is 8.45pm tonight.

Just prior to this afternoon's position report, Walter Carpenter's Samarkand retired due to a torn mainsail and advised they were heading to Coffs Harbour . They are the fifth retirement from the fleet of 72 that left Sydney Harbour yesterday afternoon at 1pm.

Official race website http://goldcoast.cyca.com.au