| HOBART, AUSTRALIA - 0400HRS-(29-12-2002) Two of the smallest yachts in the fleet , Zeus II and Toecutter, head the IMS and IRC rated handicap divisions of the 2002 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race as weather conditions continue to favour the smaller yachts on their fourth day at sea in the annual ocean classic.
Since the super maxi Alfa Romeo swept up the Derwent River early yesterday evening to take line honours, 10 more yachts have crossed the finish line of the 630 nautical mile race.
With a hot day forecast for Hobart, the favourable north-easterly winds have already begun to increase with sunrise along the Tasmanian East Coast after the breeze eased away overnight.
By today’s 3am “sked” with the fleet, all but four yachts had passed Eddystone Point, the significant waypoint on the north-east tip of Tasmania and were sailing down the East Coast, close reaching or running under spinnaker.
Zeus II, a Currawong 30, skippered by Jim Dunstan, immediate past commodore of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, heads progressive corrected times in the IMS division, ahead of two other small boats, John Walker’s Peterson 34, Impeccable, from Middle Harbour Yacht Club in Sydney and Robert Hick’s Toecutter from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, Melbourne.
This is Jim Dunstan’s 25th Sydney Hobart Race, having won in 1981 with Zeus II, one of the smallest yachts ever to win the historic Tattersalls Cup. The last small boat to win was the Hick 35, AFR Midnight Rambler, in the stormswept race of 1998.
Walker, aged 80, is the oldest skipper in the fleet while Toecutter’s skipper, Robert Hick, is the designer and builder of the 31-footer.
Also with strong prospects for top Overall IMS honours are Bob Steel’s Nelson/Marek 46, Quest, and Another Challenge, the Sydney 38 skippered by Melbourne veteran Lou Abrahams who is looking for his third win in the Sydney Hobart Race.
In the IRC division, Toecutter heads the leaderboard of progressive corrected time positions with Impeccable in second place and the veteran Melbourne boat, Bacardi, skippered by Australian Yachting Federation president Graham Ainley and his co-owner, John Williams, in third berth.
Again Quest and Another Challenge are close to the money, in fourth and fifth positions.
Alfa Romeo was followed across the line yesterday evening by Grundig, the Open 66 skippered by Sean Langman from Sydney Amateur Sailing Club, finishing only 44 minutes astern. The British 97-footer Canon, the biggest boat in the fleet skippered by London yachtsman Mike Slade, finished third, just two hours later.
Overnight the finishers have been, in order, Australian Skandia Wild Thing, Nicorette, Brindabella, Magnavox 2UE, Broomstick, Hollywood Boulevard, Merit Navigator and Ichi Ban, which finished at 0403 hours today.
A strong wind warning has been issued for Tasmanian waters, with north-east winds of 15 to 25 knots, reaching 30 knots, particularly near Tasman Island during this afternoon. Seas are rising to three metres. Further north the north-easter will be between 15 and 25 knots.
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