Breaking the silence...

Seems like all the media outlets must have had their official last day for the year on Friday as there have only been editorialised syndicated news articles since.

World of Rolex released a great marketing video on Friday night.  I'm clearly dense as I didn't know there was a World of Rolex, but as it turns out they are actually associated with a lot of the major yachting events around the world including Farr 40 World Championship and the Fastnet race.  Anyway, here's that video:

So two days out, what do we know?

Line Honours Hopefuls

This looks like a race of three - Wild Oats XI, Ragamuffin Loyal, and Wild Thing. 

I can't really be sure the form of Loyal or Wild Thing.  Whilst Loyal is pretty much the same boat that won last years race, Oats and Wild Thing have both undergone substantial modifications since last years race.  But, Loyal has a new skipper and is sailing without a significant celebrity crew on board this year.  I think its going to be close, but that we'll see Wild Oats XI first into Hobart again this year.

Overall (Handicap) Contenders

To say this is wide open is not quite true, but of the yacht's over 60ft, there are several hopefuls.  Of the hopefuls perhaps the most promising to watch are Lahana, Ichi Ban, Loki and Loki given the current weather forecasts from Roger Badham, the Bureau and PredictWind.  My hopes are split here - I hope for a good run for Loki, but I hope that rank outsider Blackjack wins overall.

Weather

No new updates have been released from the earlier two since Friday, but PredictWind is currently predicting close to record pace (1day 19hr 6m  to 1day 20hr 29m).  Both the PWG and PWC (PredictWind proprietary weather models) show massive winds over the two days (9.5 - 22.9 knots, 15.6 avg for the line honours hopefuls).  The best route for these massive yachts appears to be to head out to see and back in off Mallacoota (NSW - Vic border). 

A huge change is expected to hit the fleet on the 27th, but both models show different timing, so clearly there is still some instability in the weather system and it will be interesting to see how the human meterologists see things when they release their next updates.

Other News

I may not post again today, if there is no news to report, and I intend to spend tomorrow with my family, so it may be December 26th before you hear from me again.  In this case I wish you and your family and friends all the best for a happy and fun-filled Christmas that is safe, and I hope that you will join me here from December 26th!

 - Evan