The 52nd Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race started at 10am off Portsea Pier on Friday under sunny skies in a 20 knot south westerly breeze, with the flat water of Port Phillip making for smooth sailing and an easy start to the race to Hobart.
Several boats had reefed mains and small headsails in preparation for the first part of the race, the 125 nautical mile passage across Bass Strait.
Monohull line honours favourite, the Carkeek 43 Scarlet Runner, skippered by Rob Date, and current multihull race record holder, the Chris White 46 designed Peccadillo skippered by Charles Meredith, were quick off the start line, throwing the gauntlet down early to the rest of the fleet.
Peccadillo quickly raced to a lead of half a nautical mile as the fleet approached the turning buoy at Queenscliff.
Peccadillo, one of three multihulls in the race, is quietly confident of another victory and a new race record, however, they may not have it all their own way with Rushour, skippered by Drew Carruthers from the Multihull Yacht Club of Queensland, taking the challenge up to Peccadillo in a tacking duel in the first few miles of the race.
Peccadillo maintained her early lead winning the Port Phillip Bay Sea Pilots Perpetual Trophy for the first boat to exit Port Phillip Heads for the second year in a row, with Rushour hot on her hammer.
Scarlet Runner, an excellent downwind racer widely tipped to challenge the line honours race record this year, was the first monohull through Port Phillip Heads followed by Cadibarra (Paul Roberts), Vagabond (Andrew McConchie), Kioni (Dennis Ward) and Faster Forward (Matt Fahey).
Cadibarra, along with Scarlet Runner, will also be in contention for a handicap win.
Roberts took out line honours and the handicap win in 2016 on his previous boat, Cadibarra 8, and with Scarlet Runner giving the Sydney 41 time on handicap, Roberts will be pushing his experienced crew hard to get the best out of the boat in the race to Hobart.
Quest, the Marek 43 co-skippered by Peter Tardrew and Rod Gunther, led the double-handed division out of Port Phillip and have set themselves up for a solid race to Hobart.
Foggy Dew, a double-handed entry co-skippered by Janet Wilks and Robert Darcy, retired just after the start citing gear damage.
Assistant Start Race Director Ray Shaw anticipates a challenging and exciting race to Hobart, noting that the race forecast has improved from earlier in the week.
“Once the fleet gets out into Bass Strait, they will see three metre waves and winds in the low to mid 20s [knots].
“As the fleet approaches the West Coast of Tasmania, it’s a pretty comfortable 15 knots, and then later into Sunday as the boats approach South West Cape, the winds will build up again to 25 to 30 knots around the bottom of Tasmania.
“Overall, the forecast is a little better than we saw it on Monday with a bumpy ride across Bass Strait, a nice ride down the West Coast, and breezier and more challenging conditions later in the race,” said Shaw.
The fleet is competing for the prestigious Heemskerk Perpetual trophy which will go to the handicap winner on AMS.
Other prizes on offer include the Zeehan Trophy for the Navigator of the boat that wins the Heemskerk Trophy, the Wrest Point Abel Tasman Trophy for the winner on line honours, and the City of Melbourne Perpetual Trophy for first on corrected time on performance handicap.
The Westcoaster, as the race is affectionately known, is one of the world’s great ocean races, covering 435 nautical miles from the start in Port Philip to the finish line in the River Derwent in Hobart.
The race starts with a 125 nautical mile passage across Bass Strait before the fleet sails 200 nautical miles south down the West Coast of Tasmania, past Maatsuyker Island, east to South East Cape then turning northeast through the challenging waters of Storm Bay and then the fickle conditions of the River Derwent.
Line honours contenders are expected to arrive in Hobart by Sunday morning.
The fleet is carrying trackers enabling race followers to track the action from start to finish.
The monohull race record of 1 day 17 hours 28 minutes 59 seconds was set by Shortwave in 2008, winning the race with an average speed over the course of 10.49 knots.
The multihull race record of 2 days 18 hours, 4 minutes and 1 second was set by Peccadillo in 2023.
For Entry, Notice of Race and List of Entries, please visit: https://www.orcv.org.au/hobart/m2hyachts
Follow the 2024 race via Blue Water Tracks at:https://race.bluewatertracks.com/2024-melbourne-hobart-westcoaster
Jane Austin/ORCV media
Website www.orcv.org.au
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OceanRacingClub
About ORCV: A leading authority on ocean sailing, racing and training in Australia, the Club was formed so that ocean races in Victorian waters could be efficiently developed and run by an organisation focusing specifically on the needs of ocean racers.
Interested in seeing more Offshore News?
