Things were looking good for a while yesterday for Whangarei's champion sailor Mike Sanderson.
Then the sea conditions calmed, just enough to cast some serious doubt on his bid for glory in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race on the boat that won him the Volvo Round the World Yacht
Race, ABN Amro One.
Sanderson was able to exit Sydney Harbour at the front end of the fleet when the race started yesterday but calming sea conditions on the 500km race course to Hobart were predicted to settle after two days of rough weather had sent a ripple through the race fleet.
It was all bad news for Sanderson though.
The blue water sailor was quite keen for some testing race conditions as it would have suited his boat and his crew laden with Volvo Round the World veterans.
Instead Sanderson is likely to race for handicap honours instead and play second fiddle to the maxi-yachts, with Bob Oatley's boat Wild Oats XI line-honours favourite.
Mark Richards, skipper of Wild Oats XI,was keen to test the boat against the Volvo boats.
"If you see 35 or 40 knots we'll start thinking about backing off but you have to see pretty extreme conditions first," he says.
"We've been training for these conditions. Wild Oats is a very fast boat and so is ABN for her length.
"If it gets very rough then it might be a boat-for-boat situation, but I think we'll have the legs on most people."
