The yacht tracker shows the leaders including Comanche and Ragamuffin all heading directly toward Narooma and then tacking back and forth between Montague Island and the mainland before heading back out into the Pacific Ocean.

The leaders apparently went past in the southerly conditions at about 2.30am and so locals missed out on getting some great photographs.

There will still yachts in close at daybreak but later on Saturday, the bulk of field passed on the east side of Montague Island later that day as by then the winds had dropped to almost nothing.

Anglers trolling out on the continental shelf then found themselves in the middle of the dozens of yachts as there were 117 yachts participating in this year’s event, the most since 1994.