Leaders quit Sydney-Hobart race
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Two of the Sydney-to-Hobart frontrunners have been forced to quit the race Tuesday, leaving the way clear for the 27-meter (90 foot) Nicorette to take line honors.
Supermaxis Skandia and Konica Minolta pulled out of the race earlier Tuesday after rough weather and heavy seas battered the fleet.
Skandia's crew were forced to abandon ship after a keel was broken while Konica Minolta was damaged after crashing from the top of a huge wave.
The two boats had been duelling for line honors in the 60th Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, one of the world's leading blue-water classic races.
Skandia won the battle last year heading off Konica Minolta, which raced under the name Zana, by just 14 minutes.
Nicorette, which had been in third position after leading the fleet out from the Sydney heads, is now well positioned to be the first yacht to reach Hobart.
Race veteran Syd Fischer has also had to withdraw his boat Ragamuffin after it was dismasted.
So far, 42 boats from the 116-strong fleet have had to retire from the race due to the worst conditions since 1998, when massive seas struck the fleet killing six sailors and forcing 55 others to be rescued.
Nicorette is now being trailed by AAPT and Brindabella.
Whoever wins, the rough weather means no boat will come close to the race record of one day, 19 hours, 48.02 minutes set in 1999 by the Danish-Australian entrant Nokia.
Nicorette skipper Ludde Ingvalle told media Tuesday the race plan now was to "take it easy and not break anything".
"Just one bad wave can finish the race for anyone, whether the boat is old or new," he said.
The weather is showing no signs of abating, with Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issuing a gale warning for eastern Bass Strait and for the entire east coast of Tasmania and tipping seas of up to 7 meters (22 feet) later Tuesday.
The race began at 1.10 p.m. local time Sunday (0210 GMT), with a spectacular start on Sydney Harbor that was watched by more than 300,000 spectators jamming vantage points on the foreshores.
Hundreds of small spectator boats accompanied the fleet for the 20-minute run to Sydney Heads, where the yachts turned south for the arduous 628-mile (1163-kilometer) race to Hobart.
While the fastest boats take about two and a half days to complete the race, some of the smaller boats take four or five days.
