Helsel II takes line honours

Helsel II crew survived a near disaster last night before crossing the line first in the Melbourne to Hobart yacht race.

While the 66-footer had a clear lead down Tasmania's West Coast, a wild jibe in the middle of the night bent the yacht's boom and knocked over several crew members.

The crash was so big that it could have cost Helsel the race. Sailing master Simon Dryden said,

"We did an involuntary jibe in 70 knots of wind. We nearly lost a couple of crew, we bent the boom and shredded the number four headsail. There was a mad panic."

By the time the crew had cleaned up the mess and set up a new sail, the second-placed yacht, Gusto, had caught up.

A great competition ensued as the two yachts raced the last 50 nautical miles.

Competition was so close that Drysden said, "We were 50m apart at one stage. We could hear what was happening on the other boat."

Helsel II finished strongly though and took out the race in a time of two days 52mins 23seconds.

It was a close race throughout the entire field as Gusto came in second in two days 1hr 37mins 36seconds, just ahead of Tasmanian yacht Quetzacoatl (two days 1hr 42min 27seconds) and Hobsons Bay yacht Terake II (two days 1hr 59min 12seconds).

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