SYDNEY: Skippers of 129 yachts set sail on a “bumpy” Sydney-Hobart ocean race Friday, with many to scatter rose petals for the Bondi Beach shooting victims as they venture into rolling seas.
On a cool, grey summer’s day at Sydney Harbor, crowds gathered around the shore or watched from scores of boats as a starting cannon set the fleet on its way for the race’s 80th edition.
Crews can expect waves of up to four meters (13 feet) and 25-knot winds on the first day of the 628-nautical-mile race from Sydney to the Tasmanian capital Hobart, a meteorologist warned in a final weather briefing.
“It’s going to be cold. It’s going to be wet. It’s going to be bumpy,” race committee chairman Lee Goddard said ahead of the race.
“People are going to get seasick, and there will be incidents, and there probably will be injuries.”
