| Wild Oats XI leads fleet
out of Sydney. |
| By Jim Gale and Lisa
Ratcliff, Sydney Hobart media team. |
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Photos by
Peter Andrews,
Story edited By Peter Andrews. |
| 15:30 AEDT December 26, 2010. |
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| The Mark Richards skippered 100 footer, Wild Oats XI, shrugged off a cheeky challenge from Grant Wharington’s Melbourne 98 footer, Wild Thing, to stamp its mark early on the Sydney Hobart line honours battle. And despite forecasts that this will be one of the toughest Sydney Hobart Yacht Races in years, the 87 strong fleet started in remarkably mild conditions on a flat Sydney Harbour at 1pm today in an 11 knot west-nor-westerly breeze. |
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The Mark Richards skippered 100 footer Wild Oats
XI, rounding the seaward
mark, after the start of the 2010 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage Australia.
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| Both start lines reported clean starts as nearly 1,000 competitors began the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Aussie yachting classic under overcast skies. The conditions resulted in a light wind that produced a colourful spinnaker procession out of the Harbour, before the fleet turned at the seaward mark to point south towards Hobart. |
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The fleet just after the start of the 2010 Sydney Hobart
Yacht Race.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage Australia.
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| On the eastern side of the front start line which is reserved for the largest boats, Grant Wharington staged a nail-biting and brilliant start with just seconds to spare at the helm of Wild Thing. The 100 footers, Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI and Sean Langman and Anthony Bell’s Investec Loyal squared off on the western side, while Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki timed things perfectly about a third of the way down the tightly congested line. |
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Grant Wharington’s Melbourne 98 footer Wild
Thing, slipping ahead
of Sean Langman and Anthony Bell’s Investec
Loyal, after the
start of the 2010 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage Australia.
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As Wild Oats XI and Investec Loyal sprinted down the western harbour shore, Wild Thing steamed along the eastern shore in better pressure past Vaucluse and Watsons Bay. But Wild Oats XI won the sprint to the sea mark, 13 minutes 48 seconds into the race, despite trailing her jib briefly in the water as she changed to her light Code Zero sail minutes after the start.
Once she turned seaward, Wild Oats’ Code Zero made way for a giant spinnaker as the four-time line honours winner gybed to find the shortest route to the seaward mark. |
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Bob Oatley's 100 footer Wild Oats XI under spinnaker as with
Sean Langman and Anthony Bell's Investec Loyal, both off south
Hras and making way to the seaward mark after the start of the 2010
Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage Australia.
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Two boat lengths behind Wild Oats XI, Wild Thing and Investec Loyal converged on the harbour mark, Wild Thing squeezing her rival out as she slipped inside.
Investec Loyal immediately headed towards South Head and Wild Thing held her course toward the north, looking for the pressure advantage they needed to have any chance of mowing down the leader in these flat conditions. |
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Grant Wharington’s Melbourne 98 footer Wild
Thing, outside
the heads after the start of the 2010 Sydney Hobart Yacht
Race.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage
Australia.
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The gamble didn’t pay off for Wharington, who also had an incident with a media boat just inside South Head. By the time Wild Oats XI was at the sea mark; the point where the impressive fleet converged, gave chase and turned the sea into boiling whitewater in the process; the thoroughbred had opened a handy break on her line honours rivals.
The last boat to leisurely leave Sydney Harbour was the Italian entry Onelife, one of two entries in the Cruising Division. Sometime this evening, the fleet will encounter a southerly change of 15 to 20 knots, accompanied by scattered thunderstorms. |
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Bob Oatley's 100 footer Wild Oats XI, after rounding the seaward mark and
well on the way to Hobart, during the 2010 Sydney Hobart Yacht
Race.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage Australia.
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For further information about the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, go to: www.rolexsydneyhobart.com. The race can also be followed on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/rshyr.
To see the full sequence of photos of the start from the water, go to: http://bit.ly/f5r2Wu. |
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| Outimage © 2010 |
