The Tasmanian RP66 Alive has posted a good corrected time in the 2018 Rolex Sydney Hobart. Owner Philip Turner and his crew will now be watching the boats that are yet to finish hoping that their time will be good enough to take the prize.
Alive finished the race at 2.41pm on Friday, December 28. Their corrected time was 3:06:45 which placed them first of the five boats that have so far finished and second in the rankings at the time.
Alive was followed across the line 15 minutes later by the all-women crew on Wild Oats X, who were shown to be sixth on corrected time on current standings.
With the Derwent “going to sleep” over night, as it often does, one by one the other handicap contenders dropped below Alive's corrected time.
At 6am on Saturday morning, the closest realistic contenders were Grace O'Malley and Enterprise, but both would need to make up around two hours on Alive's time, which is unlikely given the light conditions and the fact that they have only around 60nm left to sail.
The forecast is for the wind to die completely this afternoon, leaving the Tasmanians almost certain victors.
Division winners/leaders are:
IRC 0: Alive, Wild Oats X, Privateer (all boats have finished)
IRC1: Voodoo, Winning Appliances, Ichi Ban (unlikely to change)
IRC2: St Jude, Chutzpah, Showtime )all boats still racing)
IRC 3: Grace O'Malley, Showtime, Sail Exchange (all boats still racing)
IRC 4: Sticky, Papillon, Midnight Rambler (all boats still racing)
ORCi: Alive, Voodoo, Grace O'Malley
PHS: Pekljus, Wax Lyrical, Flying Fish Arctos
Corinthian: Pelagic Magic, Wax Lyrical, Sticky
Check current standings here.