Half the fleet in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has now crossed the finish line and another 30 or so boats are expected to finish during the course of the day.

The NSW yacht Zen became the 40th yacht to complete the 628 nautical mile course at 4.54am today, while the only South Australian yacht True North, which crossed just before 8am, is the first boat to be tied up in Constitution Dock.

A fleet of 82 started the race in Sydney on Boxing Day, of which three have retired leaving 79.

The Sydney maxi Wild Oats XI became only the second boat in the race’s 63- year history to take three successive line honours when she crossed the line at 10.24am on Friday, nearly three hours outside her own record.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia yesterday declared Roger Sturgeon’s US STP65 Rosebud overall winner of the race on corrected time, the third American boat and first in 30 years to have won the race.

The leading boat under the Performance Handicap System is David Pescud’s Lyons 54 Sailors with disABILITIES. PHS boats do not qualify for the overall race win.

The trailing boat, Michele Colenso’s Capriccio of Rhu, off the Tasmanian east coast, is expected to finish on New Year’s Eve.

Today’s forecast is for southeast to southwest winds 5 to 15 knots tending northeast during the morning then increasing to 10 to 20 knots, locally 25 knots about Tasman Island, during the afternoon

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Last Updated ( Sunday, 30 December 2007 )