Handicap stars align finally for Celestial

CELESTIAL will be presented with the Tattersalls Cup on Friday as winner of the 77th Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race on handicap despite a last-minute bid by a rival in the boardroom.

For the second year in a row, Celestial’s fate was decided off the water.

Last year it set the time to beat only to be stripped in the protest room over the accidental activation of an emergency beacon and failure to answer the radio when officials called to check they were okay.

This time, Western Australian yacht Enterprise went before the race committee for time redress after stopping to help stricken NSW yacht Koa, which lost its rudder in Bass Strait, on Tuesday.

Enterprise skipper Anthony Kirke said it cost them 90 minutes.

“There’s not many other boats out there so it’s just something you have to do,” he said.

Enterprise was given time back, but not enough to take the shine off Celestial’s sparkling performance.

“Last year at the finish, we knew we had the best corrected time. We just about had our hands on the Tattersall Cup, but it wasn’t to be,” said Celestial skipper Sam Haynes.

“I talked to my crew about how they felt. We decided together that we were going to come back, try again.”

Enterprise settled for victory in IRC Division 2, while Tasmanian yacht Alive will take second in IRC Division 0 after winning it in 2018 and 2019. Fellow-Tasmanians Kraken 42S (Mark Bayles/Andrew Sinclair) was a chance to finish on the podium in IRC Division 3 and Midnight Rambler (Ed Psaltis) in IRC division 4.

Two-Handed Tasmanians Hip-Nautic (Jean-Pierre Ravanat) and Kraken III (Rob Gough/John Saul) were both due home late on Friday.