KEY POINTS
- In the first few minutes of the race, boats nearly collided.
- The first vessel to retire was Avalanche, a couple of hours into the race.
- There is the potential for the race record to be broken with the favourable wind conditions.
Andoo Comanche is giving her rivals a target to chase, with the leading supermaxis near record time after a fast start to the Sydney to Hobart.
Pushed along by northerly winds, the fleet made good progress after some early drama with Andoo Comanche and her old rival Hamilton Island Wild Oats each opting to do a penalty turn In the first 20 minutes.
Almost seven hours into the race, only two of the original fleet of 109 had retired.
Inside the first few minutes some boats almost collided as teams competed to take the lead. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi
A few hours later another Sydney based boat, Yeah Baby, was forced out with rudder damage,
Andoo Comanche was out in front, with not much distance separating her supermaxi rivals LawConnect, Hamilton Island Wild Oats and last year's line honours winner, Black Jack.
There was a gap between the four supermaxis and the next group of boats, which
included the 80-foot Stefan Racing, the Volvo 70 Willow, the 72-footer URM Group
and the 66-foot Alive, the boat that won overall honours in 2018.
To break LDV Comanche's 2017 race record of one day nine hours 15 minutes 24 seconds, boats have to hit the finish line before 10.15pm Tuesday (AEDT).
In the hours before the start, some skippers said a record was possible, but thought the current mark might just survive.
The big boats are likely to continue making good progress on Tuesday, with some fresh to strong north-easterly winds forecast.
The battle for overall honours will start in earnest once the first boat finishes.
After early morning fog over Sydney cleared, the race settled down after a frantic start in front of a large spectator fleet.
Andoo Comanche is on track to reach the finish line on Wednesday evening with a time that is more than two hours faster than the current race record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds. Source: AAP / Carlo Borlenghi
Andoo Comanche navigator Justin Shaffer said they took their penalty turn after another boat protested against them, but declined to identify which yacht it was.
He confirmed his boat was flying a protest flag but did not elaborate.
Nine-time line honours winner Wild Oats took their penalty turn several minutes later, following a debate between skipper Mark Richards and other senior crew members.
The reason for the turn was not immediately apparent.
More than seven hours into the race, at 8:20pm AEDT Saturday, Andoo Comanche still held the lead. Favourable wind conditions mean the current race record is likely to broken. Source: AAP / rolexsydneyhobart.com
She crossed the line first but dropped back to second after being slapped with a one-hour penalty by an international jury for a rule breach related to an incident with LDV Comanche in the harbour.
Despite the early drama on Monday, race organisers reported a clean start across all four lines of boats.
More than seven hours into the race, at 8:20pm AEDT Saturday, Andoo still held the lead.
The vessel is on track to set a new race record as it continues at a pace that could see it cross the finish line at 8:04pm AEDT on Wednesday evening, according to the race website. That would be more than two hours faster the current record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds.
