SYDNEY, 1 January 2005 — British yacht Aera, skippered by round-the-world sailor Jez Fanstone, was declared the overall handicap winner of the grueling Sydney-Hobart yacht race yesterday.
Aera is almost half the size of the Australian maxi Nicorette, which was first across the line in the 630 nautical mile race on Wednesday, and took just three days to complete the storm-tossed race down Australia’s east coast.
The British 55-footer (17 metre) yacht was fourth across the line but was declared the handicap winner with a corrected time of four days two hours 52 minutes and nine seconds to edge out Nicorette by about four-and-a-half hours.
All competitors are awarded corrected times based on complicated formulas which take into account their size and weight in relation to other boats and the actual time it took them to complete the race.
“This is truly the Everest of sailing,” said Aera’s owner Nick Lykiardopulo of Britain’s Royal Yacht Squadron.
Aera is only the third British yacht to become handicap winner of the Sydney-Hobart.
The Royal Navy’s Captain John Illingworth won the inaugural race in 1945 while Edward Heath, who later became British prime minister, won in 1969 with his yacht Morning Cloud.
There were still 21 smaller yachts at sea by Friday afternoon from a starting fleet of 116. None had any chance of challenging Aera and some will have been at sea for more than a week before they finish.
Gale-force winds and heavy seas forced the retirement of 56 boats, most of them during a storm which lasted for more than 36 hours in the notoriously rough Bass Strait between the Australian mainland and the southern island state of Tasmania.
Among those to pull out were super maxis and race favorites Konica Minolta from New Zealand and Australia’s Skandia.
