HOBART // New Zealand's Alfa Romeo won the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race yesterday, completing a start-to-finish victory ahead of four-time defending champions Wild Oats XI. Alfa Romeo, skippered by Neville Crichton, crossed the finish line at Constitution Dock in an unofficial time of two days, nine hours and two minutes, well off the race record due to light winds. Wild Oats XI, holder of the record of one day, 18 hours and 40 minutes, set in 2005, finished more than 90 minutes behind, followed by British yacht ICAP Leopard.
Alfa Romeo led the 100-yacht fleet out of Sydney Harbour on Saturday and never relinquished the lead. The New Zealand yacht made it interesting in the final hours, seeing their lead of more than 37km cut to 14. But Alfa Romeo re-established a sizable lead at the end, crossing the finish line to the sounds of the horns of nearby yachts in the harbour. Crichton said several hours earlier that he considered his yacht and Wild Oats XI in a match race, and would follow the Australian yacht if it decided to change its course in an effort to pick up more wind. "We will cover them whenever we possibly can," he said. "We won't let her go out on a flyer without us being there."
Investec Loyal, who have a crew that includes the former Olympic 1,500m swimming gold medallist Grant Hackett and world boxing champion Danny Green, were expected to finish fourth early this morning. Alfa Romeo finished second to Wild Oats in 2005, the yacht's only other Sydney-to Hobart-race and the first of Wild Oats' four successes. At the back of the fleet yesterday, the smaller, slower boats were finding no breeze in the normally challenging Bass Strait and the calm conditions were forcing skippers to restrict food and drink.
* With agencies
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
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Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.