On the Australian night, this year's Sydney-Hobart regatta is developing more and more into a tough test for equipment and teams.

There is now 30 knots of wind, around seven Beaufort, and waves more than three meters high on pitch-black seas demand a high price.

"It's pretty pathetic out here," radioed Bradshaw Kellet, navigator on Law Connect that night.

Then he added: “It's terrible.

I hide in the hatch and pull on my weather jacket.

You can't see anything here. "

Christoph Hein

Business correspondent for South Asia / Pacific based in Singapore.

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On the racing yachts of the multimillionaires, these are the hours of the bought, often flown in professional sailors.

"All the professionals are out on deck," reported Kellett.

"Tony Mutter is at the helm." Mutter is an example of the die-hard: The New Zealander, who contested the Volvo Ocean Race six times and was one of its winners, had his teammates operated on his open knee on the high seas in 2008.

It doesn't have to get that far between Sydney and Hobart.

But in the hours before nightfall on Boxing Day, 16 of the 88 yachts left at the start gave up.

Crew members were injured on two, the mainsail tore on the others or a stay broke.

The trio of supermaxi fought a bitter battle at the head of the field: The favorite Scallywag had led the field out of Sydney Bay until a misting broke on the foredeck and the genoa had to be salvaged. While the 100-foot yacht fell behind, its two competitors, Law Connect by Christian Beck and Black Jack owned by Peter Harburg, stand out. Their leadership changed at nightfall. After midnight, Black Jack had gained a lead of 15 nautical miles, Law Connect was in second place, the repaired Scallywag came fourth, 21 nautical miles behind.

Despite the effort and the storm, the participants of the 76th Rolex Sydney Hobart Regatta will not set a time record for the 628 nautical miles (1063 kilometers) to the finish line in front of the harbor pier in front of Hobart: wind direction and waves make it impossible.

So far it is expected that the winner will be determined by late Tuesday afternoon local time, early in the morning in Germany.