SYDNEY, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Defending line honours champion LawConnect took the early lead in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Friday as the fleet of 129 boats, led by the supermaxis, pushed out of a cloudy Sydney Harbour and into choppy seas in the South Pacific.
LawConnect was the first past the turning mark after the starting cannons fired at 1 p.m. (0200 GMT) as the supermaxi aims to win line honours for the third straight year in the 80th running of Australia's premier yachting event.
Fellow favourite Master Lock Comanche was among the leaders, sailing close behind, as crews brace for wet and wild weather.
Australia's weather bureau forecast strong southerly winds of up to 25 knots and swells reaching 4m (13 feet) after leaving Sydney Harbour, but conditions are expected to ease slightly along the New South Wales and Tasmanian coasts at the weekend.
Sailors, while passing Bondi, will pay tribute to the victims of the Bondi mass shooting nearly two weeks ago. Fifteen yachts - one for each of those killed - will scatter rose petals off the stern of their boats, the race organiser Cruising Yacht Club of Australia said.
Six 100-foot supermaxis, the largest and fastest yachts in the fleet, are the primary contenders to finish first this year, though the race includes several smaller boats competing across divisions.
LawConnect won last year's race in 1 day, 13 hours, 35 minutes and 13 seconds. The 2024 edition was marred by the deaths of two sailors in separate incidents when they were struck by booms during the race.
Five-times Olympic swimming gold medallist Ian Thorpe is among the crew aboard the LawConnect this year.
Covering about 630 nautical miles (1,170 km), the gruelling annual race takes yachts south along Australia's east coast, across the notoriously treacherous Bass Strait and on to the finish in Hobart, capital of the island-state of Tasmania.
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
