Sydney Hobart. **OFFICIAL FRED**

The market can be found under "Y" for Yotting.

Should be a cracking race.

Thanks Joel, was Wild Oats racing? I cannot find that report. That race was in 10 knots and on flat water. I will start checking forecasts in a few days.

Here is another:


http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/12/21/117055_in-depth.html

Sydney-Hobart boats to watch
JAMES BRESNEHAN
December 21, 2009 10:22am
THIS year's Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race is shaping up as one the closest in years. Here are the main contenders.

LINE HONOURS
Five to follow:

WILD OATS XI: Last year became the first boat in event history to record four successive line honours victories and is closing in on the race record of seven line honours wins held by Morna/Kurrewa IV. Has shed 25 per cent of her crew, but picked up celebrated New Zealand sailor Mike Sanderson.

ALFA ROMEO: One of the most successful maxis ever, with a staggering 143 line honours victories to her credit. Owned and skippered by Sydney-based New Zealander Neville Crichton, who claimed line honours in 2002, Alfa is almost identical in design to Wild Oats XI, who she finished second across the line to four years ago.

ICAP LEOPARD: This imperious British maxi has collected a host of line honours wins, including two in the famous Fastnet race. Slower downwind than Oats and Alfa, Leopard will be the favourite to reach Hobart first if the race becomes a heavy upwind slog.

INVESTEC LOYAL: Formerly known as Maximus, Loyal has attracted plenty of pre-race publicity because of a crew which contains several stars from other sports. Olympic swimming gold medallist Grant Hackett, world boxing champion Danny Green and Wallabies Phil Waugh and Phil Kearns are all scheduled to sail south under the stewardship of experienced skipper Sean Langman.

ETIHAD STADIUM: According to skipper Grant Wharington, modifications to the 2003 line honours winner, is 20 per cent quicker.

I don't think Wild Oats was in that race Alex, and yeah Etihad Stadium is the one that needs the new mast - it has arrived but they need to join it back together - if it goes according to plan the boat should be ready Thursday.

Thanks guys.

I don't think that there has been a handicap winner market before.

Email betfair

If you do manage to get betfair to do a handicap market then I will need to ask some questions. I an familiar with Portsmouth Yardsticks but not big boat handicaps. In the meantime:


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/sydney-hobart-record-tipped-to-fall-in-perfect-conditions/story-e6frg6nf-1225812936072

Sydney-Hobart record tipped to fall in perfect conditions
D.D. McNicoll From: The Australian December 23, 2009 12:00AM

Boat buildiing experts work on Etihard Stadium's new mast yesterday after it arrived from France on Monday night in two pieces. Picture: Renee Nowytarger Source: The Australian

THE fastest yachts in this year's Sydney-Hobart race should shatter the race record and be sailing up the Derwent River just one day and 14 hours after the Boxing Day start.

The senior forecaster for the Bureau of Meteorology, Barry Hanstrum, said yesterday the 100-strong fleet should experience strong northeasterly winds down the NSW coast after the start and westerly winds across Bass Strait, giving them almost perfect conditions.

The commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Matt Allen, said computer modelling of those conditions showed Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI could finish more than four hours under the record she set in the 2005 race -- the first of four consecutive line-honours wins.

Allen said modifications to Wild Oats XI had made her significantly faster than she was in 2005.

"We are leaning toward northeasterly winds for the start, building up to 20 to 30 knots on Sunday afternoon," Mr Hanstrum said during a weather briefing at the CYCA.

"There will be another wind change in Bass Strait with strong westerly winds continuing into Monday night."

He warned the after-effects of tropical cyclone Laurence in Western Australia could mean that the 500,000 spectators expected to pack the foreshores of Sydney Harbour for the race start could get wet.

"There will be quite a lot of rain in NSW on Christmas Day and it will be continuing on Boxing Day," Mr Hanstrum said.

Mike Slade, the owner of British super maxi ICAP Leopard, said the forecast conditions would suit him as his yacht was more competitive with the lightweight super maxis Wild Oats and Alfa Romeo "in a breeze".

"If this is the set-up, it will be a really quick race," Slade said.

He added that it would probably be ICAP Leopard's last offshore event before he retired the giant sloop from racing.

Slade said he wouldn't like to pick a winner from the eight maxi yachts competing for line honours.

"I'd hate to say we can beat Wild Oats because we were happy to get within 20 minutes of them the last time we raced," Slade said.

"Wild Oats should beat Neville (Crichton of Alfa Romeo), although he'll hate me for saying that.

"If I come third, I'll be doing very well," he said.

"We have our work cut out but we have our best chance of winning in the predicted conditions."

Slade said that, if he did win line honours, he would have to leave the yacht in Australia to defend its title next year.

"I'm getting old -- or getting to the age when my wife says I'm pretty bloody stupid to keep sailing around the world," he said.

"I'd hate to say how much it costs to get a yacht like Leopard from Europe to Australia.

"But the Fastnet race, in which we took line honours this year . . . and this one are the best two ocean races in the world, and I love sailing here."

Where ?:|