COMANCHE AN OPEN WATER SENSATION
COMANCHE may be leading the fleet in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, but it was the underdog of the supermaxis, InfoTrack, who stole the show on Sydney Harbour yesterday.
The quintet of supermaxis — Comanche, Wild Oats XI, Black Jack, SHK Scallywag and InfoTrack — put on a thrilling show as they danced for leading positions.
However it was Christian Beck’s InfoTrack, which took line honours in 2016 as Perpetual Loyal, that executed the perfect start in winds of up to 18 knots, leading the big fleet through Sydney Heads.
Comanche was slowest to start, but as soon as the line honours favourite hit open water, the 100-footer pushed straight to the front, humming along at around 25 knots.
InfoTrack sailing master Brad Kellett said his crew enjoyed the exciting start, despite being overtaken.
“It’s always nice to get away first and clean, the boys are all really happy, it’s just the start of a two-day sprint for us,” Kellett said.
He and his crew were sitting in second position last night as they powered downwind at 20 knots.
“We’re still holding off Wild Oats, Scallywag and Black Jack,” Kellett said.
“I think Wild Oats and Black Jack have got two different ideas in their game plan, so we’re watching them go their own ways and just settling into our routine.
“But we can’t do anything about Comanche, that’s a wellknown fact, we’ve just got to sail our boat to the best of our ability.”
Hours before the race, Beck said jokingly that InfoTrack would need heavy upwind and a bit of luck to beat the other supermaxis.
“Our odds are 12/1 . . . but these conditions really help us a lot,” he said.
“We probably need a (Steven) Bradbury moment to win, but we could be right there if someone has a problem.” American cruiser Cailin Lomhara was the last boat out of the heads yesterday and two boats retired — Hollywood Boulevard, with a broken rudder, and Faster Forward because of steering problems. Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Paul Billingham said there were no collisions along any of the four start lines.
“We saw a couple of penalty turns taken that was probably starboard issues, there was a lot of tacking going along up the harbour,” Billingham said.
“Everyone behaved themselves, we didn’t see anyone break the exclusion zone.”