Sydney : Just over one nautical mile separated the three leading yachts in the Sydney to Hobart race on Saturday, with New Zealand maxi Alfa Romeo holding the lead late on the first evening.
Nine hours into the race, Alfa Romeo, skippered by Neville Crichton, was ahead of Britain's ICAP Leopard, which had given up the early lead, and four-time and defending champion Wild Oats XI.
"It looks like they (Leopard) are starting to struggle a bit in the easing breeze," Alfa Romeo navigator Tom Addis said.
Leopard, twice winner of the Fastnet ocean race, is a heavier boat and sails better in stronger winds.
With forecast light winds, none of the leading yachts was expected to break the race record.
The first yachts were due to reach Hobart, on the island state of Tasmania, tomorrow or early Tuesday.
Advantage
The record came in 2005 when Wild Oats XI, skippered by Mark Richards, finished the 1,163 kilometre race in a record one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes, after crossing the line at Constitution Dock in Hobart.
The yacht is seeking its fifth straight win in the annual race, first held in 1945.
Alfa Romeo took advantage of a spinnaker problem on board Wild Oats to take the lead out of Sydney Harbour. Leopard, skippered by Mike Slade, was third to sail between Sydney Heads and into open ocean.
Etihad Stadium only just made the start after transporting and installing a replacement mast from Europe. Skipper Grant Wharington spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the repairs, but a problem with the rigging in the new mast forced him to retire the boat before it even left the harbour.
"Just disappointed ... for my team more than anything," Wharington said. "We've had probably 50 people for the last two weeks, with an enormous input from every single person."
Before the race started, amid hundreds of spectator craft in the harbour, Richards predicted the race would be a "mindbender" because of lighter than expected winds.
"It's going to be testing times for all the big boats ... a very tactical race, a real mindbender," Richards said.
The race has been hit by severe storms in the past.
In 1998, six sailors died and seven boats sank during a storm that hit the fleet early on the first night of the race. In 2007, eight sailors had to abandon a sinking vessel and three others were airlifted to hospital with injuries.
