Race a true ‘blue’ classic

IT was a race of highs and lows, phenomenal speeds, race records and a controversy that claimed headlines around the world.

There were stunning comebacks, memorable debuts, frighteningly close calls, dramas at sea and one almighty stink back on the dock.

The 2017 Sydney to Hobart had it all — and then some. THE FASTEST: The Jim Cooneyskippered supermaxi LDV Comanche was the line honours winner in a record-breaking performance after it covered the 628-nautical mile course in one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds. THE BEST: Sydney skipper Matt Allen and his team on new 52footer Ichi Ban “drove it like it had been stolen” to deliver his first overall handicap win as a skipper. THE SMALLEST: The mighty Maluka, at 30 feet long and the minnow of the fleet, made it into Hobart on December 30 at the end of a race made tough by light winds at the start and 50-knot winds at the end. THE OLDEST: The American stunner Dorade showed there is still plenty of life left in the old girl when she finished the race in 77th, in a tick over three days and six hours, at the ripe age of 87. THE SLOWEST: The Richard Lees-skippered Freyja was still out at sea on New Year’s Eve but expected to be home for the first day of the new year. THE CONTROVERSY: On December 27, the Mark Richards-skippered Wild Oats XI provisionally claimed her ninth line-honours crown and third race record when she finished the Sydney to Hobart in one day, eight hours, 48 minutes and 50 seconds. A day later she was relegated to second place after an international jury issued her with a one-hour time penalty following a protest by Comanche. PLAY OF THE DAY: Geoff Bauchop finished the race on the Sydney 46-footer Patrice, jumped ashore, went on one knee and proposed to girlfriend Paula Dredge. WOW POWER: There were a record number of female skippers, sailors and an all-female team. But it was Wendy Tuck on the clipper yacht Sanya who was the first woman skipper home to win the Jane Tate Trophy in honour of the first woman to complete the Sydney to Hobart in 1946. FAMILY FIRST: Julia and James Cooney became the first sisterand-brother team to be on a line-honours winner after their father, Jim, bought LDV Comanche a fortnight before the Sydney to Hobart.