Scores of boats hoping for a shot at Sydney to Hobart handicap honours have had their chances blown by a lack of wind.
Despite there being more than 90 per cent of the 83-strong race fleet yet to reach Hobart, New Zealand finisher Giacomo looks hard to beat on corrected time.
The Volvo 70 boat which claimed second place line honours has only a handful of eligible challengers for the coveted Tattersall's Cup.
And with many boats at a standstill in Hobart's mill pond Derwent River there seems little chance of picking up the speed necessary to meet calculated deadlines.
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia commodore John Markos has already showed his hand.
"This race, these conditions, were made for the Volvo 70s," he told AAP.
"We saw them push the bigger boats and we saw them push really hard.
"Giacomo has sailed really incredibly well. For them, the way they've campaigned, they deserve the overall win as much as anybody else."
The 2015 overall winner, Balance, owned and skippered by Paul Clitheroe, missed the chance of retaining the title after drifting up the Derwent, listless for hours.
Some boats have reported spending three hours covering one nautical mile.
Wine industry businessman Jim Delegat picked his sons Nikolas, 19, and James, 18, as part of his 14-member crew for Giacomo's third attempt at the blue water classic event.
He credited an early race plan with producing his boat's strong finish.
"The key really is we picked a good plan, a good strategy, we really thought about the weather and we looked at where we had to be in the first 18 hours," the skipper said.
"We figured that the first 18 to 20 hours was going to win the race for us and we went out far, a little wider and that enabled us to take a couple of jibes later on at the top of Tasmania."
The overall winner might not be confirmed until Thursday afternoon.
