LawConnect yesterday won line honors in the 78th edition of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, holding off the crew of Andoo Comanche, the defending champions, by less than a minute in an exciting finish between the super maxis.
The pair of 100-foot yachts had dueled for much of the race and were well ahead of the rest of the fleet of 103 that started the race on Tuesday in Sydney Harbour.
LawConnect, runners-up in the past three editions of the race, finished in 1 day, 19 hours, 3 minutes, 58 seconds. Comanche’s time was 1 day, 19 hours, 4 minutes, 49 seconds — a margin of just 51 seconds.
Photo: AP
It was the second-closest finish in Sydney to Hobart history after Condor of Bermuda beat Apollo by seven seconds in 1982.
In yesterday’s finish, both yachts performed several late jibes as they attempted to secure the lead.
“I can’t believe that result. Honestly, it is a dream come true,” LawConnect skipper and owner Christian Beck said. “They took the lead pretty close to the line and we thought there was no way we could get it back.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
“A wind gust came around. It was a complete surprise. There were guys who couldn’t watch,” Beck said.
“It was very nerve wracking,” he added.
Comanche set the race record of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds when it won the race in 2017.
“It is pretty painful, we’ve got an amazing boat that should have won,” Comanche skipper and owner John Winning Jr said of yesterday’s result. “The other guys sailed their guts out and left nothing on the table. They beat us with an underdog boat, those guys deserve all the praise they get.”
“It was one of the most epic finishes in probably any sailing race I know,” Winning said. “In the last three minutes, I think the lead changed three times.”
Comanche and LawConnect were clear front-runners from just out of Sydney Harbour. The pair began the trip down the New South Wales south coast at a fast clip, but fell off the race record pace.
The finish was at Constitution Dock in Hobart, the capital of the island state of Tasmania.
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
RSS