It took a good 23 minutes for this year's Sydney-Hobart Regatta to show what it is: a drama.

Suddenly the foresail on the Scallywag, which had led the regatta fleet out of Sydney Bay, hit uncontrollably: a fitting on the foredeck had broken.

The crew struggled to tame the huge cloth, which had fallen off and was only under the mainsail.

In a two-meter wave, the 30-meter racing yacht bobbed while the competitors sailed up and away.

Christoph Hein

Business correspondent for South Asia / Pacific based in Singapore.

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In normal races, the sailors wrestle with the weather, waves and, like Scallywag, with their own boat. This year, however, all participants in the 76th Sydney-Hobart Regatta had to take on an even greater challenge: They had to manage to get on board in Sydney without the corona virus. Because they would have to stay on the ship for at least 36 hours - some of the slower boats will need a week to cover the 628 nautical miles (1163 kilometers) in southern Australia. However, the number of infections is also increasing rapidly on the fifth continent. And so some of the registered boats were canceled in the last hours before the start because one or more team members had tested "positive" or no test results were available.

Nevertheless, the starting shot at 1:00 p.m. local time over the Bay was already the first victory: The traditional race had to be canceled for the first time since 1945 at the anniversary regatta last year.

But now at least 88 yachts ventured out onto the water again, watched by almost a million spectators on boats and on the slopes above Watsons Bay.

They saw Olympic champions, circumnavigators and world champions who were hired as helmsmen and tacticians on the top boats.

Super taxis determine the start

But also sailors like Tony Ellis, who started for the 53rd time, on the No Limit this year: “No two races are the same as the weather conditions on the coast are constantly changing,” he says. Matt Allen, who won the traditional regatta in 2017 and 2019 as the skipper of the TP52 Ichi Ban, is expecting special challenges this year due to the weather conditions: “Every Hobart race is definitely unique. Usually two or three big decisions are made. In this race, however, it should be more like six or seven. "

The start in what is perhaps the most beautiful bay in the world is determined by the super taxis. The most important thing at the start is not to cross the line too early - because the race control does not report the rule violation until five minutes later, which required a long sailing back. This year only three of the sensational 100-foot yachts (30.48 meters) turned up - all three well-known ships that went through several hands and were renamed by their current owners and converted for this race.

Law Connect, which runs until noon, is owned by Christian Beck, a self-made man from Sydney.

So far it ran as an info track, before that as Perpetual Loyal.

Nobody before Beck contested his first ocean race on his own super maxi, worth around $ 100 million when new, and finished it in a record time that the same boat had sailed the year before.

The man, who as a programmer without a degree achieved an estimated prosperity of 600 million dollars today, says of himself that he will contest the race as a "lucky passenger" with a team that has been signed up around the world.

The Scallywag, registered from Hong Kong, is sailed by David Witt and was the favorite until it broke.

The Black Jack owned by Peter Harburg is skippered by sailmaker Mark Bradford in his eleventh race to Hobart.

Under everything the mast supports, the trio chased across the line at midday on Boxing Day in half wind with a wind of 18 knots. While still in the bay on the way to the first buoy, Scallywag took the lead with a boat speed of almost 20 knots, ahead of Black Jack and Law Connect. Black Jack - like a number of yachts after it - had problems furling the genoa and lost a lot of altitude compared to its two competitors. Many teams seemed to be missing training in this Corona year, as the maneuvers showed right at the beginning.

With a reef in the mainsail, however, Scallywag rushed out of the sheltered bay high on the wind into the open sea and along the world-famous Bondi Beach.

But when the former raggamuffin fell behind due to the break, the hour of Becks Law Connect struck.

The blue and white boat had a clear run and increased its lead over Black Jack with every wave.

Meanwhile, Scallywag had no choice but to set the orange storm jib from North Sails - this gave her such a small sail area that any chance of taking the lead was gone a good half an hour after take-off.

Under the permanent shower with salt water, the bowmen tried to repair what was only possible while the field was expanding.

A time record for the route is unattainable this year due to the direction of the wind;

the leading yacht is expected for the celebrations in Hobart, the port of the Australian island of Tasmania, on Tuesday afternoon local time.

Beyond all records, the old sailor's saying is not only valid for Scallywag in Corona year 2021: "To be the first to cross the finish line, you have to reach it first."