Certainly looks like it. Commanche came second last year and has won every international yacht race its been in since. Certainly took off ahead the rest today, brilliant run out of the heads and down the coast, they might strict heavy weather tonight, not over yet....
Eight-times line honours winner Wild Oats XI is out with a torn mainsail and is returning to Sydney; the US frontrunner Comanche, which had been leading the race, suffered a broken rudder, initially retired but is now trying to effect repairs at sea and continue in the race; Anthony Bell’s Perpetual Loyal, with former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke aboard, has retired, also with a broken rudder and is returning to Sydney.
The other US entry, George David’s 88 foot Rambler now leads the race, ahead of Comanche and Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin 100.
robplum: Eight-times line honours winner Wild Oats XI is out with a torn mainsail and is returning to Sydney; the US frontrunner Comanche, which had been leading the race, suffered a broken rudder, initially retired but is now trying to effect repairs at sea and continue in the race; Anthony Bell’s Perpetual Loyal, with former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke aboard, has retired, also with a broken rudder and is returning to Sydney.
The other US entry, George David’s 88 foot Rambler now leads the race, ahead of Comanche and Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin 100.
Any chance Comanche was sabotaged? I was really hoping it was their year.
They sailed way out over edge of continental shelf, out there with strong southerly current and 30 kn south westerly wind high seas stack up, yacht was lost out there few years ago, the waves stack up and yacht sliding off wave easily break rudder and fin, so is my guess they slid off a wave sideways, but dunno but nobody would sabotage commanche I'm pretty certain no chance downunder they'd do tat
As the leading yachts reach the halfway mark of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the US supermaxi Comanche has made, arguably, the greatest comeback since Lazarus.
Comanche has closed on race leader Rambler, also from the US, and resumed the lead in the race for line honours.
While Comanche is back in the lead, just two nautical miles separates the two boats, and the southerly buster, which has taken out more than 20 per cent of the fleet, is expected to abate over the next 48 hours. On paper, the much lighter conditions expected in the bottom half of Bass Strait and along the Tasmanian coast later this afternoon and tonight favour the less beamy Rambler. So a fascinating duel could develop off Tasmania tonigh
robplum: As the leading yachts reach the halfway mark of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the US supermaxi Comanche has made, arguably, the greatest comeback since Lazarus.
Comanche has closed on race leader Rambler, also from the US, and resumed the lead in the race for line honours.
While Comanche is back in the lead, just two nautical miles separates the two boats, and the southerly buster, which has taken out more than 20 per cent of the fleet, is expected to abate over the next 48 hours. On paper, the much lighter conditions expected in the bottom half of Bass Strait and along the Tasmanian coast later this afternoon and tonight favour the less beamy Rambler. So a fascinating duel could develop off Tasmania tonigh
Oh wow, as you probably already guesse, I'm rooting for Comanche!
Ha ha ha Except, this afternoon, Comanche staged a dramatic comeback, slowly reeling in her smaller rival, and eventually regaining the lead. What was happening? Had the guys on Comanche pulled off some sort of miraculous jury rig?
Not quite. Somehow, in the vast sweep of Bass Strait, Rambler had found her very own submerged object, twisting and bending her starboard side daggerboard.
“We have no idea what we hit, we couldn’t see it,” Rambler’s Australian navigator Andrew Cape said by satellite phone a short time ago. “It might have been marine life or flotsam, but it was a solid hit. It shook the boat.
“Our port tack performance has been badly affected, and it is all upwind to Tasman Island, so we have a lot of pain to come.”
Cape estimates that they have lost about 10 percent of their speed on port tack and, because they can’t lift the daggerboard, they are losing a bit on starboard tack as well. “It’s tricky,” Cape says, “ä serious structural problem impeding our boat speed.
“I don’t know what will happen overall. We’ll just try to get the shifts right and do our best.”
So right now we have an American two-horse race, and both horses are running with broken legs. The same broken leg.
With 150 miles to go Comanche is almost 16 miles ahead of Rambler, while any potential challenge from the last standing Australian supermaxi Ragamuffin 100 appears to have evaporated with the morning mist. She trails Rambler by 34 miles, unable to take anything out of the wounded Americans overnight.
With 150 miles to go Comanche is almost 16 miles ahead of Rambler, while any potential challenge from the last standing Australian supermaxi Ragamuffin 100 appears to have evaporated with the morning mist. She trails Rambler by 34 miles, unable to take anything out of the wounded Americans overnight.
I haven't checked stats. I wonder if Comanche wins, will they set any records?
Comanche still may not get line honers, though probably will Rambler may yet over take it and or slight chance AU Ragamuffin 100 could beat both of them to the line, ever so slight outside chance that could occur so don't count the chickens yet mate
Getting line honors isn't the end and b-all of the race results, the winner wins based on handicap count. Smaller boats on handicap likely be the over all winner... money don't buy everything
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