Wild One slips through to regain the Westcoaster lead

by Mike Sabey on 29 Dec 2000 The Sandringham Yacht Club 47 foot sloop Wild One made better use of 40 knot south westerly squalls off the Westcoast of Tasmania through the night, to regain the lead in this year
Indec Consulting Melbourne Hobart.
At the 0605 hrs sked this morning on day three of the race, Graeme Smith and his 11 person crew which includes two women have opened up a slender 1 mile lead over Angus Fletcher¹s Tevake as the lead boats approach Low Rocky point with 222 miles to sail.
Headwinds have slowed Tevake which is running 2nd on handicap, averaged just 5.1 knots in the 9 hours up to the latest sked.
Twenty one miles astern and a abeam of Macquarie Harbour, Kevin Curtis¹ Elliott 10.5 metre Sea Eagle was in third place (and leading on handicap) is stoutly defending its position from Maurice Contessi¹s Cole 43 Anaconda 4th, which is just two miles astern.
Color Solutions continues to race despite a fire
Over night James Kellett¹s Far 36 radio relay vessel, Color Solutions continued to race despite suffering a serious electrical fire last evening.
On this morning¹s radio sked three boats, Yoko, Ruffian II and Under Capricorn failed to report in. However at this stage, the Ocean racing Club holds no concern for their safety.
Latest weather reports from Maatsuyker Island indicate the lead boats will encounter 40-50 knots south westerlies which are expected help blast them home under spinnakers over the final 100 miles of the race at breakneck speeds.
The first boats are not expected to finish in Hobart until early Saturday morning.
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For more info: Visit the ORCV¹s web site which has real time maps of all the competitors and all the latest data can be found at: www.orcv.org.au
The next Indec Consulting Melbourne-Hobart radio position reporting sked from the fleet is scheduled for 1315 hrs today.
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