Sydney-Hobart 2011

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Thanks to Jeff for "pinning" the race link. Too bad the picture quality is so unbelievably poor......
UPDATE-at the end of the last ad the picture quality picked up nicely-don't get it...

 

quality?

The video looked great to me. Thanks! B

 

Seems that Wild Oats is no longer a CBTF (or whatever the hell it is) boat anymore,whats the deal?
Steve.

 

Sh

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They replaced the forward rudder with twin daggerboards, added cant angle to the keel maybe a few other details.

 

Sh

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Bruce, did you watch it as they sailed in Sydney harbor from the pre-start on?
The quality of video on my computer was poor-and alll of a sudden it changed.
Anybody else notice something like that?

 

Sh

Front page news and short version of standings: http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/default.asp?key=521

Tracker: http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/yacht_tracker.asp?key=522

Current standings: http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/standings_ext.asp?key=524

 

Sydney-Hobart

For the first time in a long time this is actually a race for Line Honors-not just a runaway by (my favorite) Wild Oats. After about half the race Investec Loyal is still within a mile of WOXI and has been leading.
I'm fairly sure Wild Oats won in 05(Line and overall), 06, 07, 08 and 2010.

 

You mean all the way back to 2009 (race before last) when Alfa Romeo took line honours?

 

Investec Loyal wins-maybe

Note: Investec Loyal crossed the finish line 3min 8sec in front of Wild Oats-one of the closest finishes on record for the Sydney-Hobart and flat amazing after 600miles! The RC is protesting Investec Loyal:
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From SA-

This is the biggest sailing event in the southern hemisphere, one of the bigger ones in the world....and after following it for 3 days the general public have to wait for a behind closed doors hearing to decide the winner - when the incident occurred somewhere at the beginning part of the race. No wonder people don't have the time for it, especially in todays 24 hour news (read "life") cycle.....Sydney to Hobart protest stops announcement of official winner

Investec Loyal's line honours win is under threat following a protest by the Race Committee of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race this evening.

Investec Loyal crossed the finish line of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's (CYCA) 628 nautical mile race at 19.14.18 AEST in the time of 2 days 6hr 14min 18sec. Shortly after Anthony Bell's super maxi crossed the finish line off Constitution Dock, a representative of the Race Committee, Howard Piggott, delivered the protest to Bell aboard his yacht.

The Race Committee is protesting Investec Loyal under Racing Rule of Sailing 41 that states: "The sail number of a boat which receives outside help will be notified to the Race Committee with details of the incident and a hearing may be held (if required) to determine any penalty. The penalty for Rule 41 shall be at the discretion of the Race Committee."

The description of the incident on the protest form is as follows: "Audio recording of conversation between ABC helicopter and Investec Loyal seeking information from the helicopter of the sail plan in use on Wild Oats XI. In particular information as to whether Wild Oats XI was flying a trysail. This is assessed to breach 41 by soliciting help from an outside source."

The Protest Hearing will be held by the International Jury at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania at 10.00 AEST tomorrow (Thursday).

Dockside after the race finish, Garry Linacre, the commodore of the CYCA, told the assembled crowd: "Some minutes ago I received this copy of a protest form. It is a protest form for the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2011, the organizing authority of the CYCA.

"The Race Committee, which is chaired by Tim Cox, has protested that rules may have been infringed on the 27th December at 06:30 hours, 30 nautical miles south of Merimbula. There is an ABC chopper pilot that is a nominated witness.

"I am very sorry about this event, I can assure you. Unfortunately, that has stopped our celebration here, as the result comes provisional until the protest is heard tomorrow," he said.

"I would like to congratulate Investec Loyal on their magnificent sailing in this race, and also Wild Oats XI.

By Di Pearson, Rolex Sydney Hobart media team
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Actual conversation here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-28/close-sydney-hobart-finish/3750226

 

The word is that Investec Loyal has been cleared-no penalty. She is the Line Honors winner.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/6199507/Investec-Loyal-crowned-after-protest-dismissed

 

From Scuttlebutt Europe today:

Closest Finish in 29 Years

The closest finish in the last 29 years of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race took place this evening when Anthony Bell's maxi Investec Loyal fended off repeated challenges from Bob Oatley's perennial line honours victor Wild Oats XI to win by just 3 minutes and 8 seconds, after 2 days 6 hours 14 minutes and 8 seconds of racing on this classic 628 mile course. The competition for line honours in this race was one of the closest in its 67 year history with the two Australian maxis gunning for each other from the moment the canon was fired on Sydney Harbour on Monday afternoon. Wild Oats XI led until 20:00 local time (09:00 UTC) on Tuesday when they were becalmed.

"They [Investec Loyal's crew] were keeping track of how we were doing and the moment we stopped under a cloud with no wind under it, they basically sailed right around the outside of this large hole we were stuck in and came back above us. It was good work on their part," described Wild Oats XI's co-navigator, Ian Burns.

Fortunately the wind filled in soon after for Wild Oats XI and they were able to resume the fight and, from this point on, the event became truly a gloves-off match race between the two 100 footers.

Finally this morning at 07:30 local time, Wild Oats XI regained the lead. With rarely more than two miles separating the two boats, it was not until Wild Oats XI was becalmed again just short of Tasman Island and the entrance to Storm Bay, that Investec Loyal managed once more to skirt around the wind hole. This time they took up residence directly ahead of their opponent and from that point, despite the best efforts of the Wild Oats XI crew led by Mark Richards, Investec Loyal was not going to be passed.

Much to the delight of spectators thickly lining Hobart's Constitution Dock, the two ocean racing giants came into sight up the Derwent River, but it was Investec Loyal and her crew, including sports stars, such as Australian rugby union internationals Phil Kearns and Phil Waugh, which was first home. They arrived at 19:14:18 local time, their elapsed time for the course being 2 days 6 hours 14 minutes and 18 seconds.

 

Sydney-Hobart 2011-The End

from Scuttlebutt Europe today:

Investec Loyal Crowned Line Honours Winners

Following a three hour hearing at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania before the International Jury, the Race Committee's protest against Investec Loyal was dismissed and Anthony Bell and the crew of his 100ft maxi were finally declared the line honours victors in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

This afternoon at the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2011 prizegiving, held in front of a crowd lining Constitution Dock, CYCA Commodore Garry Linacre, Lord Mayor of Hobart, Damon Thomas, and Patrick Boutellier of Rolex Australia presented Anthony Bell with the JH Illingworth Trophy and a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece for the line honours victory.

"It is the long way around in some ways," said a delighted Anthony Bell. "It is very relieving to get to this point. There are rules in every sport and, while it wasn't ideal to go through this, I think that ultimately it gets beyond any question and whatever those questions that were asked have been properly answered."

Bell explained that the query to the ABC helicopter pilot about Wild Oats XI's sails had been made by their tactician Michael Coxon. Coxon is also Managing Director of North Sails Australia and, after the strong winds of the first night at sea, he had been concerned about Wild Oats XI's mainsail, made of their new product 3Di and believed to be the most expensive sail of its type in the world.

"One of the things that they did take was that Michael Coxon's question was not to gain any advantage for our boat at all, but more to test how his business client's product, that they bought off him, was going," said Bell of the international jury's decision.

To date ten boats of the 77 still racing (out of 88 starters) have arrived in Hobart, the latest being Syd Fischer's modified TP52 Ragamuffin. Of the boats now docked, Stephen Ainsworth's Reichel Pugh 63 Loki is currently favourite for the overall IRC handicap prize in this year's Rolex Sydney Hobart. However still ahead of her on handicap is Roger Hickman's 26 year-old Farr 43 Wild Rose. Still racing, she must finish before 08:12 local time tomorrow (30 December) if she is to beat Loki's time under handicap.

Seventh home this morning, 12 minutes after Living Doll was Matt Allen, former Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the Rolex Sydney Hobart organisers, aboard his first generation Volvo Open 70, Ichi Ban.

Ichi Ban had suffered a few issues during the race. On the first night the lock jammed, holding their main halyard, and in the strong conditions they were forced to spend the rest of the night sailing with three reefs. It was only on the following morning they were able to send a crewman aloft enabling them to hoist the sail fully once again.

"That meant we had a really poor first night and it was really hard to recover from there," said Allen. "We also broke one of the D4s , but luckily we picked it up before, otherwise we would have lost the mast." www.rolexsydneyhobart.com