Sunrise in the Sydney Hobart

Yes, that is the fleet off. May be over for the big boats by this time tomorrow.

And yes, besy of luck to the amazing Sunrise crew on their JPK 10.80 - although they may need a lot of luck to feature in the overall results, as forecasters seem to think the downhill speed ride will last for the fast 52 footers, but perhaps not for the rest of the fleet.
 
The fleet tracker is here - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2022

Leaders “only” doing 15-19 knots currently, which is below what is needed for a race record, but still early days

And as of now, Sunrise is taking a very different course from the rest of the fleet - they are heading closest to the shore and the dumb line. Hope it is a tactical winner, and not a heading for port.
 
The East Australian Current, EAC, brings warm water from the tropics all the way south to Bass Strait. Normally the fleet would take advantage of the current, which is well documented. I have not been paying close attention but not to take advantage of the lift, if it is there (which the majority seem to identify) would not be a winning strategy. The EAC tends to diminish in strength once you get to the east coast of Tasmania.

Of course going the other way the EAC is a bit of a nuisance and strategy is to normally run into the bays and sneak round the headlands.

Jonathan
 
Sunrise didn’t look too good early on. Suspect this is because compared to the rest of the fleet they are actually relatively heavy and plane later. But now the breeze is up they are one of the fastest in the fleet and really climbing the rankings.
I suspect that the overall will elude them, as the slightly faster TP52s etc will make it to Hobart before the wind shifts to the south whilst they probably won’t. However they look well placed for their class, as they seem to revel in the heavy downwind, and they should also be better in the heavy upwind that they will see for a few hours before Hobart.

I met Tom in a ski chalet, of all places, when he still had the Elan. And he was talking about his plans for the boat he was just buying, the 1080 that preceded the current 1180. I wouldn’t have guessed he was going to do what he did. Fair play though, it’s a hell of an achievement from what seems to be a really great crew.
 
Well done to Law Connect for line honours.

Sunrise is looking good for a handicap placing. I guess a lot will depend on the weather in the coming 24hrs.
 
flaming said:
And on that basis, congratulations to France for winning the World Cup…!

Commanche got line honours….
Click to expand...
You are quite correct. I was just watching it live on Youtube (with the sound off), and assumed that Law connect was the first home. I did wonder what had happened to Commanche as they were about 20 miles ahead earlier.
 
As I write, Sunrise has 260 nm to go, doing 15kts.
They are currently projected 34th On the Line, 1st in ORCi, 1st in ORCi Div 3, 6th in IRC overall and 1st in IRC 3.
The big one will be the IRC Overall, having to mix it with the TP52's.
 
Another incredible result from Sunrise. The weather change after the TP52s we’re in made it a big boat race, as predicted. But it looks like Sunrise get another first in class in their first attempt on the race.

But this is incredible when you hear their story - RSHYR 2022 | Sunrise Interview

They broke their boom clean in two with a bad gybe early on. But rather than retire they dropped the boom and sailed most of the race sheeted “like a trysail“ without any boom! Meanwhile they sawed up all the pipe cots and made a repair using “aluminium, gaffer tape and sticky sail repair tape”. This then got them upwind into 30knots of breeze whilst slamming into waves. Incredible team, well done.
 
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