- Overall winner: Quest, Bob Steel, NSW
- Line honors: Alfa Romeo, Neville Crichton, NZL/Aus — 2:04:58:52
At 5.58.52pm, December 28, 2002, Australian eastern daylight saving time, race leader maxi yacht Alfa Romeo, skippered by New Zealander Neville Crichton, crossed the finish line in the Derwent River in Hobart, Tasmania.
Her elapsed time for the race was 2 days 4 hours 58 minutes and 52 seconds, well outside the 1999 race record set by Nokia, but is the second fastest in the 58-year-history of the 630 nautical mile bluewater classic.
The 66-foot Sydney flyer Grundig finished second just 44 minutes behind the 90-foot Alfa Romeo.
The 97 foot British yacht Canon finished third, two hours behind Alfa Romeo.
Handicap honors
Overall handicap winner on corrected time was the Sydney yacht Quest which crossed the finish line at 9.03am on December 29 but had to wait until 10.08am on December 30 for its win to be confirmed. The closest contender for handicap honors was Zeus II which would have won if it crossed the finish line by that time but only reached it eight minutes later.
The last yacht in the 57-strong fleet contesting the 2002 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was Berrimilla which crossed the finish line at 12.30pm on December 30.
Except for the two retirements as a result of collisions in Sydney Harbour, all the yachts in the race finished the gruelling Sydney to Hobart course.
Clear favorite
Alfa Romeo was the clear favorite to win line honors and almost completely dominated the race from its wet-weather December 26 start in Sydney Harbour.
Alfa Romeo led past the heads and into open sea after the starting time of 1pm, followed by maxi yachts Canon/Leopard of London and Nicorette.
By 8pm, Alfa Romeo was still ahead and located south of Jervis Bay. Canon was three miles astern of Alfa Romeo. They were followed by Australian Skandia Wild Thing, Nicorette, Grundig and Brindabella.
Alfa Romeo remained the race leader overnight and was nine nautical miles ahead of Canon just before 5am, December 27. Behind Canon were Australian Skandia Wild Thing, Nicorette and Brindabella.
Just before 6pm, December 27, the word from Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Media Centre was that Alfa Romeo still headed the fleet, reporting her position at 2pm as 76 miles south of Gabo Island but some 50 miles east of the direct course between Sydney Heads and Tasman Island. In distance, Nicorette was holding second place with Brindabella in third place.
By afternoon of December 28, it was expected that the leading yacht would cross the finish line before nightfall, Australian eastern daylight saving time.
Collisions
The yacht Peugeot Racing was involved in a collision with Valheru just past the Sydney heads. A crewman from one of the boats was flung overboard but was quickly picked up.
Valheru suffered serious damage to her hull which was sliced open in the collision and retired from the race. Peugeot Racing continued racing.
An earlier collision occurred between the yachts Trump Card and Loki at the starting line. Trump Card retired from the race.
Peugeot Racing and Loki were subsequently disqualified despite having finished the race.
57 yachts nominated
Fifty-seven yachts had been nominated to compete in the 2002 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
Ten nations represented in the 2002 race by crew are Australia, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the USA.
Short-odds line honors favorite was the eventual winner, Sydney-based New Zealander Neville Crichton’s Reichel/Pugh-designed 90-footer Shockwave, which had changed her name to Alfa Romeo.
Alfa Romeo had strong competition from the other maxi yachts in the fleet - Ludde Ingvall’s 80-footer Nicorette from Sweden, which took line honors in the 2000 race and placed a close second to the Volvo 60, Assa Abloy, last year, along with Sydney yachtsman George Snow’s 80-footer Brindabella, also a former line honors winner, and the 83-footer, Australian Skandia Wild Thing, owned by Victorian Grant Wharington and line honors winner of the Sydney-Gold Coast Race in August.
Next page: Duel of the Super Maxis
