Rolex
Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2003 - 0600 AEDT: Skandia
takes line honours by 14 minutes from Zana
Grant
Wharington's Skandia collected line honours in
the Rolex Sydney Hobart this morning when the
Australian yacht crossed the finish line just
14 minutes and 24 seconds ahead of Stewart Thwaites'
New Zealand-registered Maxi Zana. Skandia finished
at 04:14:06 on Monday morning with an elapsed
time of 2 days, 15 hours, 14 minutes and 6 seconds.
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Skandia taking line honors. Photo ©
Daniel Forster/Rolex
|
The
98-foot Super Maxi from Melbourne has lead the
59th edition of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's
flagship race for most of the 628-mile course.
Tough upwind conditions for much of the course
have meant that the race record was never in any
danger, the two giant boats finishing almost 20
hours behind the reference time.
The
Super Maxi pair has been locked in a match race
from the start, Wharington making the first move
to engage the opposition shortly before the start
gun fired on Boxing Day in Sydney. The two boats
have only had eyes for each other over the past
two and a half days. As a result Wharington and
Thwaites have often concentrated on their own
personal match race leaving the way for Sean Langman's
much smaller Grundig to surprise them frequently
with bold initiatives elsewhere on the course.
With the leaders approaching Tasman Island, just
40 miles from the finish the wind dropped leaving
no serious options left for Grundig to pass Skandia
or Zana, but the line honours race was far from
over.
Skandia
and Zana still had plenty of fighting to do in
the light winds of the early morning. At one stage
the pair came to within four boat lengths of each
other before a break away move by the Australian
crew with a masthead Code Zero sail allowed them
to slip away across Strom Bay with a slim lead.
The
last ten miles of the course up the Derwent River
saw the pair tacking frequently in the light and
patchy breeze. The pre-dawn approach to the finish
attracting a significant number of spectator boats
onto the water. Just before 0415 Wharrington took
the crew of Skandia into the history books by
crossing the finish line ahead of everyone to
the delight of a welcoming committee of family,
friends, Hobart fans and media.
At
the dock the crowd was entertained by the Australian
humour of the victorious Skandia crew for nearly
an hour. Thanking his crew for a magnificent effort
Wharrington said:
"628-miles
is a long way to sail only to see the hardest
part for the finish. We tacked I don't know how
many times in the Derwent River in the light winds.
All the time we had our eyes over our shoulders
watching Zana. I didn't believe we had the race
until I heard the gun fire at the line. It really
could have gone either way. The crew did a magnificent
job and I can't thank them enough for this great
victory."
The
Rolex Sydney Hobart uses a tracking system to
monitor the entire fleet, whose individual positions
are collected and updated every 10 minutes and
then graphically presented on the official website:
http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/yacht_tracker.asp?key=522
