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11:03 PM Sat 1 Nov 2008 GMT
Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race entrant Shogun has dramatically won Line and IRC handicap honours in the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria's Bass Strait race from Melbourne to Stanley, the historic port town on the north-west coast of Tasmania, which finished early today.
In an exciting finish at 0218 this morning, Shogun, Geelong yachtsman Rob Hanna's recently acquired Cookson 50 (ex Living Doll), overtook John Williams and Graeme Ainley's Farr 53 Georgia to snatch line honours by just five seconds.
They were followed over the next 48 minutes by the 52-footer Goldfinger (Peter Blake & Kate Mitchell), the ILC40 Chutzpah (Bruce Taylor) and Shamrock (Tony Donnellan) with the smaller boats not far astern.
Georgia had led by up to three miles as the fleet sailed south across Bass Strait following the pre-dawn start from Queenscliff, just inside The Rip at the entrance to Port Phillip. Shogun steadily overhauled Georgia as the south-easterly breeze freshened last evening to snatch victory on the line off Stanley's breakwater.
On IRC corrected time, Shogun has taken provisional first place by an impressive 3 hours 10 minutes and 44 seconds, underling her prospects as one of the strong contenders among boats in the 50-foot LOA range entered for the Sydney Hobart.
Second place went to another Royal Geelong Yacht Club entrant Cinquante (Ian Murray) and third to Chutzpah.
Chutzpah, from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, has provisionally won the AMS division from eXtasea, skippered by Paul Buchholz, also from Geelong, and Bombora (Greg Tobin) from the RYCV.
By 0700 this morning 13 of the 32 boats still racing had finished the 152 nautical mile race, which is a qualifying event for the Rolex Sydney Hobart and the Heemskirk Consolidated West Coaster and East Coaster races to Hobart. The last boats should finish by midday.
by Peter Campbell
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Rundle Island, QLD
