NSW yacht Celestial is in prime position to claim prestigious overall honours in the Sydney to Hobart, a year after devastatingly losing top spot due to a time penalty.
Owner and skipper Sam Haynes has revealed he almost quit the sport after the heartbreak in 2021 that saw the 52-footer miss out on the Tattersall Cup.
Celestial was penalised 40 minutes for breaching race rules requiring competitors to keep a continuous watch for radio contact.
It meant Ichi Ban, who lodged the penalty along with the race committee, lifted from second to first to take the silverware,
After crossing the finish line shortly before 11.30am on Wednesday, Celestial sits atop the overall leaderboard but faces a nervous wait with dozens of yachts still to finish.
Haynes said there would be a lot of tracker watching on dry land.
"I would have been quite happy to walk away from the sport at that stage," he said, reflecting on the 2021 result.
"But I am still very involved with the Cruising Yacht Club. I am vice commodore and have a lot of history with the club and Rolex.
"I also talked to my crew and how they felt and we decided we were going to come back and try again."
Celestial had a tit-for-tat battle with other TP52s, Warrior Won, Gweilo and Caro, with the advantage changing hands multiple times.
"(They) were all over us. It became a game of their turn, our turn, their turn, our turn," Haynes said.
"It was a great match race all the way before Tasman Island."
Haynes last year described the jury's decision to inflict a time penalty as devastating and a very difficult pill to swallow.
Windy weather is expected to make life difficult for the remaining yachts at sea, after Andoo Comanche took out line honours for the fourth time in the early hours of Wednesday.
