Unless something goes badly wrong, Lucky looks set to take line honours in this year's Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race. Approaching the halfway point, the 27-metre maxi remains dominant at the head of the fleet, leading on both line and handicap.
Two storylines are capturing the attention of followers back ashore. The first is whether Lucky can push on to set a new race record. The second, perhaps more gripping for the bulk of the fleet, is the tight mid-Tasman contest developing between Antipodes and Frantic. Under clear skies and light westerlies, the long-running rivalry between these two crews is generating real tension and no shortage of entertainment across the fleet.
The most recent position report, issued at 9pm AEDT on 12 October, placed just 10 nautical miles between Antipodes and Frantic. To put that in perspective, it is roughly the distance from Tiritiri Matangi to Kawau Island, and on a clear Tasman day like this, that is well within sight of one another.
