Daily Digest: VOR, S2H, AC, WS

SAN DIEGO – Several of our Dear Readers have asked for more of these "Daily Digest" posts, with links to current yacht racing articles that may be of interest to our loyal and growing group of Dear Readers. Please don't call us the Drudge Report of sailing, but here goes (and, as always, your comments and suggestions as to format and content are welcome)....

MAPFRE first into Melbourne to earn consecutive wins on consecutive legs, and double points for Leg 3; Leg 4 to Hong Kong begins Tue 2 Jan.

Likely second-place Dongfeng fell 50nm behind MAPFRE after struggling with a broken keel-canting ram.

Dramatic video of yesterday's "Chinese jibe" and knock-down on Turn the Tide on Plastics in the Southern Ocean, no injuries or damage, just "a few wide eyes."

102 yachts are set to embark on the 73rd edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Four 100-footers will lead the famous 628nm charge south, followed hard by the remainder of the highly competitive fleet representing some 27 countries.

Video: the "Navigators' Take" on the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race weather conditions and routing, including Stan Honey, after their briefing for the media yesterday.

How to watch the start of Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race - livestream coverage begins on Boxing Day (26 Dec) at 1230 AEDT (Sydney Time) / 0130 UTC, which in the USA is 1730 PST / 2030 EST on Christmas Night (25 Dec).

Christopher Clarey in yesterday's New York Times: "Australia's Nautical Rite of Passage."

Christopher Clarey in today's NYT: "Guillaume Verdier Helps Design the Future of Yacht Racing" – meaning the AC75 for the 2021 America's Cup. [Note that the NYT, like SAILING ILLUSTRATED, prefers the term "yacht racing." Do you? –TFE]

Grant Simmer interview on the 2021 AC, after 50 days as the new CEO of BAR: "Currently it looks like the boat build costs, technical development and logistics are going to be extremely expensive but we are ready to take on both the financial, technical and sporting challenge."

World Sailing President Kim Andersen's final Presidential Update of 2017. To quote Mr Shakespeare, "Much ado about nothing." To quote the old burger-chain commercial, "Where's the beef