Ichi Ban ‘looking strong’ to win Sydney to Hobart handicap honours

Ichi Ban, the 2017 overall Sydney to Hobart winner, is on track to claim 2019 handicap honours as slow winds push the race into its fifth day.

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Paul Billingham confirmed on Sunday afternoon that it was "pretty clear" Ichi Ban would be taking home the Tattersall Cup.

"We are going to keep an eye on things in case we need to change our positioning, but Ichi Ban is looking pretty strong," Commodore Billingham said.

Ichi Ban will likely claim the Tattersall Cup this year.Credit:James Brickwood

Ichi Ban skipper Matt Allen said the crew targeted finishing more than an hour ahead of their closest competitor, Quest, which they did with hours to spare.

Ichi Ban was the first of the TP52-class vessels to make it to Hobart, finishing the journey 11th for line honours at 7.18pm on Saturday. Quest finished up almost three hours later about 10pm.

"Once or twice we almost changed our game plan, but we decided against it," he said. "They had to pedal down and so did we."

Quest co-owner Craig Neil, who was not in the race due to injury, was disappointed with the boat's position.

"It was a real tussle to the end," he said. "Unfortunately for us, we got caught in Storm Bay. We sat there, tried to move, but we couldn't get going, and some of the other people did better."

The race was not without its drama, with Quest lodging a protest against Envy Scooters. The claim, which has not yet been heard by the race committee, came after Envy Scooters allegedly failed to give room to Quest as they approached victor mark. Quest claim they had to bore away to avoid a collision.

The result is not expected to have an impact on the final winner, with the boats sitting in fourth and third.

Conditions overnight slowed the boats right down, with many of the yachts stuck around Tasman Island struggling to hit five knots. The wind picked up around midday on Sunday, with 20 knots of wind pushing the majority of the fleet over the line on the fourth day of the race.

Alive, who took out overall honours in 2018, was the first handicap boat to cross the finish line in sixth spot behind the supermaxis after pulling into Constitution Dock just after 2pm on Saturday. The effort won't be enough for the yacht to take back-to-back honours, which has not been done since 1965. They currently sit fifth.

Classic yachts, 60-year-old Windrose and 1904-built Katwinchar, both took turns at the top of the leaderboard during the race.

The race is considered to be one of the most tactically gruelling Sydney to Hobart's in recent history, with winds varying from 40 knots to 0. Comanche took out the overall race victory, finishing just after 7.30am on Saturday morning.

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