North-Easterly Winds “Most Likely” For ‘Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race’ Start As Another Yacht Withdraws

The long-range weather forecast for the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race was announced today, revealing north-easterly winds are “most likely” for the iconic start on Sydney Harbour on the 26th of December (Boxing Day) as another yacht withdraws from the race.

Higher-than-usual temperatures have also been detected along the race route.

However, according to the Bureau Of Meteorology (BOM)’s Senior New South Wales (NSW) Meteorologist, Gabrielle Woodhouse, the forecast is currently a “little bit uncertain”.

Juan Vila, navigator for Master Lock Comanche, said the crew was “quite excited” about the forecast because depending on the weather systems’ timing, they feel that their yacht is “quite, quite strong” while Ken Gourlay, navigator for Blue Moon II, thought the forecast was “interesting”.

However, Patrick Broughton, the navigator for Love & War, was more interested in the temperatures than the winds as they will “affect us because of the small-scale weather”.

Meteorologists in Tasmania will also deliver daily briefings for crews until the last yacht arrives in Hobart.

Meanwhile, 6 yachts have now withdrawn from the Blue Water Classic with Millennium Falcon withdrawing on Monday, leaving a fleet of 106 yachts to battle it out.

The Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race begins at 1pm, the 26th of December (Boxing Day) on Sydney Harbour.

We’re talking more than 7 days away & currently, we’re expecting a cold front and low-pressure system to move across south-eastern Australia early next week. Depending on how quickly this system moves, it will determine what we see at race start.

Currently, the most likely scenario is that we’ll see some north-easterly winds at race start, which may pick up along the New South Wales (NSW) coast on Thursday afternoon & evening. If this system stays a little bit slower & a little bit closer towards the NSW coast, then we may end up seeing a southerly wind instead at race start.

Gabrielle Woodhouse, Senior NSW Meteorologist, Bureau Of Meteorology

In our mind is, whether the conditions will – to possibly break a record.

They (Systems) can be very important for a strategy or tactics, navigating & then there’s a current as well, waves and so forth so & you might get into Tasman Island in a very good position and then you have another race, into the finish so, there’s a lot of sections through the race & a lot of weather phenomena that can affect the strategies.

We’re going to find out & through the race.

It’s a really exciting race. It’s really complicated but that’s why it makes it very interesting for navigators.

Juan Vila, ‘Master Lock Comanche‘ Navigator

(The Long-Range Weather Forecast) It’s undefined. As Gabrielle said, the pattern is variable. It’s a long way out but we don’t see anything that’s too nasty, particularly for shorthand sailing.

We’ll be conserving our energy because it’s not a sprint. It’s a 3 or 4 day adventure so, we’ll sail with that little bit in reserve, as far as our sleep, which is a very important thing.

Ken Gourlay, ‘Blue Moon II’ Navigator

(Kismet) It’s actually incredibly light displacement, incredibly brilliant design. It looks like an aircraft down below … as far as software goes & hardware goes.

We were watching some video over the weekend on how to navigate with modern equipment.

Sean Langman, ‘Kismet’ Navigator