Australian maxi Alfa Romeo claimed line honors in the 58th Sydney-Hobart yacht race yesterday when it surfed across the finish line under spinnaker after making the most of unusually benign conditions.
Sydney-based New Zealand businessman Neville Crichton's carbon-fibre boat took two days four hours 58 minutes and 52 seconds to complete the 1500km race down Australia's east coast to the island state of Tasmania.
Alfa Romeo surfed under a huge white spinnaker at speeds of up to 18 knots in favorable conditions through Storm Bay and down the Derwent River to Hobart.
Despite its fast finish, Alfa Romeo's time was still well outside the race record of one day 19 hours 48 minutes and two seconds set by Danish flyer Nokia in 1999.
"We didn't break the record but we didn't break the boat either," Crichton said.
The sleek grey carbon fibre boat was a clear pre-race favorite and led a fleet of 55 yachts out of Sydney Harbour on Thursday. It crossed the finish line in the Derwent River just before 6pm, surrounded by spectator craft.
Australian downwind flyer Grundig finished second about two hours behind Alfa Romeo, with British super maxi Canon Leopard likely to claim third ahead of maxis Nicorette of Sweden and Australian Skandia Wild Thing.
"This morning the closest boat was 20 miles behind us and they had no tactical advantage. We sailed conservatively," said Crichton, whose experienced crew included British America's Cup helmsman Andy Beadsworth.
Notoriously rough race
Crichton's 27.4m yacht was the biggest-ever to claim line honors in the bluewater classic. Tiny Australian yacht Toecutter, at 9.5m almost a third the size of Alfa Romeo, was well placed to claim handicap honors.
Boats in three of the last four Sydney-Hobart races were hit by appalling weather with strong winds whipping up huge seas in the notoriously rough Bass Strait between the Australian mainland and Tasmania.
Six sailors died in the 1998 race, prompting a raft of stringent new safety regulations.
But the 2002 race has been unusual for the relatively calm conditions experienced since Thursday's chaotic start in rain, mist and poor visibility in Sydney Harbour.
This year's race was still not without incident. Nicorette bowman Mitch White hit his head and was knocked unconscious while working on the boat's mast on Friday.
Australia's Sting reported yesterday it was continuing in the race despite having its rudder badly damaged in a collision with a whale. The Farr-50 Sting also hit a sunfish on Friday.
Canon Leopard also hit a whale on Friday.
On Thursday, Australian boats Valheru and Trump Card were forced out after separate collisions near the start. Valheru almost sank and both boats have lodged protests.
Alfa Romeo remains unbeaten since it was launched last August. Crichton's boat will now sail across the Tasman Sea to Auckland, where it will be reconfigured before taking part in the Millennium Cup Regatta in conjunction with the America's Cup.
It will then sail in the TransAtlantic race from New York to La Rochelle in France and other European maxi regattas.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later