Tough seas have forced further retirements in a gruelling Sydney to Hobart, with crews reporting broken ribs, lost life rafts and yacht damage.
Master Lock Comanche maintained a four nautical mile lead over the chasing pack but there was a shock in second place — at around 7am on Sunday — with Hong Kong-owned SHK Scallywag moving ahead of defending champion LawConnect off Tasmania’s east coast.
In fact Scallywag has made up 12nm and, with the light winds working in its favour, is now hunting race leader Master Lock Comanche in what would be a major Sydney-Hobart boilover.
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The Matt Allen and James Mayo skippered Comanche is out for redemption after being forced to retire in 2024 with mainsail damage, while LawConnect dreams of a third successive win seem all but over.
In fact, LawConnect skipper Christian Beck detailed the extent of the damage to his boat early on Sunday morning
“If we weren’t a s***t box before we are now” Beck told News Corp .
“The damage report is instruments not working from the start, delamination on the mainsail, broken halyard dropping jib twice on the first night and a broken main sheet on the first night.
“We also had issues with the outhaul (which controls the tension on the bottom of the mainsail) overnight.”
He also said some of his team were attempting to do repairs on a sail with “sticky tape”.
As of 7am (and following the fresh retirement of Titoki due to rigging issues on Day 2), 33 of the starting fleet had pulled the pin, with 95 still racing.
Tasmania-owned Kraken 42S retired on Saturday night and headed for the NSW coast after a crew member suffered suspected broken ribs and the yacht had electrical issues.
Last year’s 31st yacht across the line, Ragtime, was among those forced to call it quits overnight after the boat’s life raft was lost overboard.
Her retirement came after Moneypenny, a former third overall and division winner, also lost a lift raft overboard when it self inflated.
“As safety is the first priority, we had to retire from the race as all safety equipment is required to remain onboard during the race,” the crew said on social media.
“The very things that make ocean racing so exciting can also make it devastating.”
URM Group, a contender for the handicap trophy, was out of the race on Saturday afternoon with hull damage – marking a second retirement in two years.
Supermaxi Wild Thing 100, which finished third in line honours and in overall standings in 2024, has been another high-profile casualty.
Skipper Grant Wharington said the seas had been “nasty” and he wasn’t confident makeshift repairs would hold up in tough upwind conditions.
“When you’ve got $4 million of mast in the air and no insurance you analyse these things a bit more carefully than you might have otherwise done,” he said.
Crews have battled 25 knot winds and four metre swells in the 80th edition of the race, with some earlier retirements citing crew sea sickness.
LawConnect was first out of Sydney Heads at about 1.10pm on Boxing Day, but surrendered her lead to Comanche tacking out to sea after 6pm.
A Sunday evening finish in Hobart is expected, which will be well short of the race record of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds set in 2017.
