Race Director's Report
Race 6: Hobart to Airlie Beach, the Whitsundays

The Race Start was conducted by officials from the Royal Tasmanian Yacht Club, the finishing partners to the CYCA for the Sydney to Hobart Race. From my vantage point in the starter’s box it was a very close start with many of the yachts hitting the start line at full speed. The Derwent River is known for being a tricky place to race with fickle winds and currents. Qingdao hit the line first but the skipper with the most experience on the Derwent, Wendy Tuck took an early lead. In fact the race out of the river and around Tasman Island proved to be extremely fast. This speed was a theme continued throughout the entire race.

The crews were now shaping up for their third crossing of the notorious Bass Strait. The conditions were nothing short of sublime with a perfect wind angle that allowed very fast downwind sailing for the entire fleet. The scoring gate was purposefully placed north of Bass Strait and way out to the east, far from the direct route or rhumb line route. To go for it would be a bit of a gamble. As it was LMAX Exchange and GREAT Britain did go for it with GREAT Britain just pipping LMAX Exchange to the 3 points. They then had a titanic struggle back toward the coast to re-join the rest of the fleet. A remarkable effort as they indeed pulled it off against the odds, gaining the extra points but also not losing contention with the rest of the fleet. The other yachts who focussed on the rhumb line ultimately paying the price of staying in the adverse East Australian Current too long. Many tried to dodge it by going inshore but ultimately it was not enough.

Mission Performance whilst lying in a strong fifth place responded to the distress call of another yacht which was not involved in the Clipper Race. They selflessly abandoned their own race to give assistance. Crew member Gavin Reid successfully rescuing a crew man stuck for 10 hours up the mast of the other yacht. For this they were awarded 11 hours and 38 minutes of redress, but this was not enough for them to avoid coming in twelfth place. In recognition of the fact that they had different wind than the rest of the fleet the Race Committee increased their total for the race to 8 points, as if they had come fifth.

It now looked like the leaders of the fleet were going to arrive a full three days early into Airlie Beach. Only 42 seconds separated LMAX Exchange from second placed GREAT Britain. It just goes to show that one of the key ingredients to success in this closely matched fleet is the need to make fewer mistakes that your rival competitors.

This was one of the fastest and most exciting races I have seen in all of the editions of the Race and to arrive into Airlie beach and all it has to offer was the icing on the cake.