Guillaume Leroux's Class 40 Lord Jiminy has claimed line honours in a challenging Melbourne to Hobart yacht race that was beset by range of strong and light winds, before ending with a perfect afternoon sea breeze in Hobart's Derwent River.
Lord Jiminy is Class 40 design and 13m in length and held a comfortable lead throughout the later stages of the race to claim back-to-back line honours wins.
The winner crossed the line shortly after 6.20pm on Thursday in a time of three days, three hours, 50 minutes and 59 seconds, more than 34 hours slower than the race record.
Provisional standings see Lord Jiminy first in the AMS and PHS divisions and winning the prized Heemskerk Perpetual Trophy.
Having completed his 15th Melbourne to Hobart race as crew on Lord Jiminy, Ian Lyall spoke highly of the race and its toughness
"This race is like the K2 of races, technically harder and then sailing in the Southern Ocean we had today is what all sailors find exhilarating," he said.
Ocean Racing Club of Victoria race director Jeremy Walton added: "What a truly magnificent effort to get through the tactical challenges of Bass Strait and then get through the calms to the finishing line.
"An absolutely fabulous effort, and wonderful reward to Lord Jiminy's crew who prepared the boat and trained so hard to take the line honours prize"
This year's 435-nautical-mile race has been one of the slower races in the 49-year history and is a long way behind Shortwave's 2008 race record of one day, 17 hours, 28 minutes and 59 seconds.
The 2021 installment will go down as one of the more difficult, with unprecedented periods of calms and strong winds.
Ocean racers expect to be challenged by the Melbourne to Hobart conditions and all entrants are considering doing it again next year in the 50th anniversary of the race.
Winners
- Melb to Hobart: Lord Jiminy
- Sydney to Hobart: Black Jack
- L'ton to Hobart: AdvantEDGE
- Melb to Devonport: Vertigo
