Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race update

Anthony Bell's Perpetual Loyal has taken line honours in the 2015 Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race late this evening, crossing the Main Beach finish line of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 384 nautical mile race overall at 10.57.49 in the time of one day nine hours 57 minutes and 49 seconds.

Perpetual Loyal finished well outside the record of 22 hours 03 minutes 43 seconds set by Wild Oats XI in 2012, due to light weather.

Bell, who had further alterations made to his yacht, was very happy with Perpetual Loyal's performance given the light weather encountered on and off throughout the race, in particular at the start yesterday and most of today.

Apart from the light fickle start, Perpetual Loyal was never seriously challenged for the line honours title, as Peter Harburg's Black Jack (Qld) could not peg Bell's boat back. However, the V70, which has also been under the knife to improve her light weather performance, did close the gap to 20 nautical miles as her larger counterpart closed in on the finish line. Black Jack is expected to finish within two hours of Bell's boat.

Now the battle is on for the overall win. Currently, Chinese Whisper is the leader. Rupert Henry recently purchased the JV62 out of Europe and many felt she would be the dark horse. Black Jack currently sits in second place and Ichi Ban, the former Shogun V purchased a short time ago by Matt Allen, is third.

Anthony Bell thrilled with line honours victory

"This is the fastest the boat has ever been. We spent ages trying to work out what to do to make the boat faster. We modified the bulb and keel and it's all looking very positive. We are very confident in the boat," he said after finishing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 384 nautical mile race.

Bell said they were happy with their start after sailing through a light breeze to Sydney Heads. "We took off after that. We were averaging 24-25 knots til midnight in a north-westerly, which suited us. Then it all went flat on Sunday. Lots of boats got trapped in Coffs Harbour and we parked a lot in the afternoon," he said.

"What a great sail, it was warm all the way, the whole crew worked hard and there were no breakages."

Bell said he was "disappointed", that Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI was not here to race against. "Given our modifications, I would have been delighted to race them, just to see how we went against each other in these conditions."

"Next stop is training and some of the CYCA's Blue Water Pointscore races. I didn't take any celebrities this time. I'm serious about this campaign for the next Hobart," an exhilarated Bell said.

Peter Harburg's Black Jack finished second on line just after midnight at 12.08.45pm and currently sits third overall in the standings. Rupert Henry's JV62 was third to finish, crossing the Main Beach finish line at 06.30.02am.

Although she was in the box seat to win the race overall all yesterday afternoon, this morning Chinese Whisper has dropped down to eighth overall as the rest of the fleet heads to Southport with a little more pace on. The rest of the fleet will trickle in throughout today and tomorrow.

The Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race is the first race of the CYCA's Blue Water Pointscore series. Last year, Sam Haynes won both with his Rogers 46, Celestial. This year, Haynes is racing the former Fomo, a TP52 he has renamed Celestial. The former Celestial is racing as The Goat under Bruce Foye and Sebastian Bohm.

Family, friends and enthusiasts can follow the race and their favourite yachts via the CYCA's proven yacht tacker on the official race website.

For all information on the Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, go to goldcoast.cyca.com.au