Race Update: Dec 28th 8:00AM

The focus is shifting from the race for line honours to the race for overall (handicap) win after Wild Oats XI beats its own record for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

Line Honours Race

Wild Oats XI beats itself to set new Sydney-Hobart race record

Wild Oats takes out Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

Wild Oats claims historic double

Overall (Handicap) Race

Jazz is currently leading the race overall but needs to finish by 2AM tomorrow morning to beat Wid Oats.


UK Daily Telegraph profiles handicap hopeful Jazz:
Rolex Sydney Hobart 2012: British entrant Jazz yet to find the jive as Wild Oats XI takes the initiative

 

My media feeds:

My much less polished news feeds for tracking a single yacht can be used to track media on handicap hopefuls. 

Calm:
Follow media mentioning "Calm"

Jazz:
Follow media mentioning "Jazz"

My View

PredictWind always predicted that the race would go close to the record from the time the full 5-day prediction was available.  When I checked at 4pm yesterday PredictWind was calling for the record to fall.  When I woke at 6am this morning the media were reporting that the record was unlikely to fall.  It wasn't until ABC Local radio in Hobart talked to BOM and received reports from people around the Harbour that there was a renewed call for the record to fall.  I feel that it comes back to what I was saying yesterday that the estimated time of arrival algorithm requires serious overhaul.

As we shift now to the overall race I'm really not familiar with Jazz and Calm, the two most promising yachts given current weather conditions.  I think it'll be interesting to see what the weather does offer up and I will be looking into this this morning.

I will be continuing to provide updates until the Overall win is claimed by the eventual winner, so stick around!


UPDATE: PredictWind is showing very favourable conditions for the likes of Jazz and Calm, given the current conditions, the overall win seems certain to come down to one of these two boats.  Where these racers may come unstuck is that the wind speed is expected to drop off around 11:30PM tonight so this may slow or park them overnight giving Wild Oats XI the treble win.

 - Evan