9:46 PM Tue 29 Dec 2009 GMT
|
|
'Cruise ship Emerald Prince is the biggest boat in Hobart, dwarfing this finishing yacht'
Peter Campbell ©
|
Hobart's historic Sullivans Cove is finally starting to look like the finish port for major ocean yacht races from Sydney, Melbourne and Launceston.
The local pubs and restaurants, and the Taste of Tasmania, have suffered from lack of patronage for the past two days, with only 37 yachts arriving by 8am today, out of an expected total of 165 yachts in the four races finishing at the southern capital.
After two days of brilliant sunny mornings, the weather in the southern capital is overcast with a light to moderate northerly breeze blowing down the River Derwent and fresher breezes in Storm Bay.
There's been a steady parade of yachts in the Rolex Sydney Hobart and the Sargisons Jewellers Launceston to Hobart race coming up the river since midnight, but so far no finishers in the Melbourne to Hobart East Coaster and West Coaster races.
The biggest boat in the river this morning has been a large white cruise ship which sailed serenely past the John Garrow Shoal beacon at 7.15pm to her berth just across from the yachts already berthed at the Kings Street marina.
Just ahead of the cruise ship, the Victorian yacht Goldfinger crossed the finish line off Castray Esplanade, bringing to 26 boats to have so far finished the Rolex Sydney Hobart. Another 40 boats are expected during the day - and should decide the overall IRC winner of the prestigious Tattersalls Trophy.
The boat to beat is the British yacht RA?N, winner of this year's Rolex Fastnet Race and the Mini Maxi division of the Rolex Maxi Worlds, the top placed yacht on IRC corrected time of the 25 so far finished.
The South Australia yacht Two True is currently at the top of the IRC overall list. Two True, a new Farr-designed 40-footer skippered by Dr Andrew Saies, at 7.30am was three nautical miles west of Tasman Island with the computer giving her an ETA of 2.30 pm which would give her an a buffer of about an hour to beat the British boat.
However Two True will face a protest by the Tasmanian yacht She's the Culprit following an incident at a rounding mark on Sydney Harbour which saw the Bellerive Yacht Club entry of Todd Leary forced to retire with hull damage.
In the Sargisons Launceston to Hobart Race, eleven yachts have finished, the last being Helsal V, but four more boats are now in the river, including the catamaran Storm Bay, Blue Chip, Masquerade and Allusive.
There have been two retirements overnight, the cruising yacht Magic Miles and Insatiable which has a broken rudder. Assistance is on the way to the disabled boat.
by Peter Campbell
|
