10:05 PM Mon 28 Dec 2009 GMT
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'Betsey Island start with Mr Kite breaking the line'
Peter Campbell ©
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Launceston to Hobart (L2H) Yacht Race update.
Line honours favourite Mr Kite has finally broken clear of her rivals, 42 South and The Fork in the Road, as the three leading yachts in the Sargisons Jewellers Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race this morning sail across Storm Bay
towards the River Derwent.
The yacht tracker, OceanTrack.com.au, at 08:00 placed Mr Kite, Andrew Hunn's canting keel Cape 40, ENE of Variety Bay, making 6.5 knots in a freshening northerly breeze.
With just under 19 nautical miles to sail to the finish, she had opened up a lead of four miles over Mark Ballard's Stompcraft 38, 42 South, with another two miles to The Fork in the Road, skippered by Gary Smith. The Fork in the
Road was 8 nautical miles WNW of Cape Raoul and 24 miles from the finish.
OceanTrack.com predicts that Mr Kite will finish off Hobart's Castray Esplanade about 10.30am to join only a handful of yachts in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race in an almost empty Sullivans Cove.
Meanwhile, Dianne Barkas has steered her Sydney 38 Sullivans Cove Whisky to the front of the second group of yachts in the L2H race, joining Whistler (David Rees), Cyclone (Stephen Keal) and Blue Sky (Richard Fisher) as they
neared Tasman Island.
Host Plus Executive, Jeff Cordell's Mumm 36 this morning headed for Pirate's Bay to check a possible equipment failure, but has since rejoined the fleet.
The rest of the 35 boat L2H fleet, the second largest fleet heading for Hobart in the four races from Sydney, Melbourne and Launceston, is sailing slowly down the East Coast from Maria Island to Tasman Island.
Earlier, as a brilliant sunrise illuminated the towering cliffs of Tasman Island and Cape Raoul, the three leading boats were still only a mile apart. In fact, at 6am OceanTrack.com tracker placed 42 South and Mt Kite right along each other, 3.9 nautical miles south of Cape Raoul. The Fork in the Road was further south in Storm Bay, 5 nm south of Cape Raoul.
by Peter Campbell
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Double Is Pt, QLD
