The 80th edition of the iconic Sydney to Hobart yacht race has become a brutal battle of attrition, with treacherous seas forcing a staggering 33 yachts to retire by Sunday morning. Crews are contending with a litany of damage, from broken bones and lost safety equipment to crippling technical failures, as the fleet battles 25-knot winds and four-metre swells.
Race Leaders Battle as Defending Champ Falls Behind
At the front of the pack, the race for line honours has taken a dramatic turn. Master Lock Comanche, skippered by Matt Allen and James Mayo, held a four-nautical-mile lead. However, in a shock move on Sunday morning, the Hong Kong-owned SHK Scallywag surged past defending champion LawConnect off Tasmania’s east coast.
Scallywag has made up an impressive 12 nautical miles and, with favourable light winds, is now hunting down Comanche in what would be a major upset. For LawConnect, the dream of a third successive win appears all but over after a catastrophic run of damage.
"If we weren't a s***t box before we are now," a frank LawConnect skipper Christian Beck told News Corp. He detailed a devastating list of issues: instruments failing from the start, mainsail delamination, a broken halyard dropping the jib twice, and a broken main sheet on the first night. His crew was even attempting sail repairs with "sticky tape."
A Trail of Damage and Dramatic Retirements
The list of casualties is long and speaks to the extreme conditions. Of the starting fleet, 95 yachts are still racing as of 7am Sunday, following the latest retirement of Titoki due to rigging issues.
The retirements include serious incidents:
- The Tasmania-owned Kraken 42S retired on Saturday night after a crew member suffered suspected broken ribs and the yacht experienced electrical problems.
- Ragtime, last year's 31st yacht across the line, was forced out after its life raft was lost overboard.
- Moneypenny, a former podium finisher, also retired after its life raft self-inflated and went overboard. "As safety is the first priority, we had to retire," the crew stated.
- Handicap contender URM Group retired with hull damage, marking its second retirement in two years.
- Supermaxi Wild Thing 100, a 2024 podium finisher, is another high-profile casualty. Skipper Grant Wharington described the seas as "nasty" and expressed doubt over makeshift repairs holding. "When you've got $4 million of mast in the air and no insurance you analyse these things a bit more carefully," he said.
Earlier retirements were also attributed to severe crew seasickness.
A Slow Trek Towards Hobart
The fierce conditions have ensured this will be no record-breaking year. LawConnect was first out of Sydney Heads at about 1.10pm on Boxing Day but lost the lead to Comanche by that evening. The first yachts are now expected to finish in Hobart on Sunday evening, well short of the 2017 race record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds.
The race has starkly highlighted the fine line in ocean racing between thrilling challenge and devastating consequence. As one retiring crew put it, "The very things that make ocean racing so exciting can also make it devastating."
