Here comes the wind - good for the maxis, not so good for the rest

• NEWS
• 27 Dec, 2005 05:06:00 PM

Here comes the wind - good for the maxis, not so good for the rest

The leaders will be driven down the Tasmanian east by northerly winds of up to 40 knots and closer to breaking Nokia’s 1999 record.

Strengthening winds, gale force and sometimes stronger in Bass Strait, will write the script overnight for fortunes in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

In short, the leaders will be driven down the Tasmanian east by northerly winds of up to 40 knots and closer to breaking Nokia’s 1999 record.

At the other end of the fleet, slower boats still approaching Bass Strait will sail into gale force winds tending westerly, then south-westerly and ever more southerly. That means battening down for a bash into the strait.

Senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology in Sydney Chris Webb said the winds in and around Bass Strait were “solid”, particularly south of Gabo Island.

The forecast for waters east of Flinders Island for tonight is for north-west to north-easterly winds, 10 to 20 knots, tending north to north-easterly at 20 to 30 knots. Seas are forecast as one to two metres rising to two to three metres.

For tomorrow, the forecast is for northerly winds 30 to 35 knots, shifting westerly at 30 to 40 knots during the day, then easing to 20 to 30 knots later. Seas are expected to be around three metres, abating a little.

After a day of building wind pressure, the race is on tonight for raceleaders Wild Oats XI (Bob Oatley) and Alfa Romeo (Neville Crichton) to close the gap on Nokia’s 1999 pace. That gap has not closed during the day, despite the consistent 17 and 18 knot speeds being recorded by both new maxis. However, the strengthening wind promises to force them into overdrive to attack the record.

Wild Oats XI has built her lead out to 15 nautical miles as she closes on the north-east coast with a further 35 miles to Grant Wharington’s Skandia.

The only retirement so far in the Rolex Sydney Hobart is the German entry Conergy, which retired this morning with a leak in the stern which eventually took out her radio. They fixed the leak but retired and headed back to Sydney.