Scarlet Runner is setting the pace in the Melbourne to Hobart yacht race, leading the field out of Port Phillip Bay and into Bass Strait.
As of 4.30pm (AEDT) on Tuesday, Rob Date's new yacht was 35 nautical miles into the race and held a narrow lead over Extasea.
MRV, Carrera, Hartbreaker and Maritimo were grouped behind the two leading boats.
The field of 49 yachts started the 50th Westcoaster at noon on Tuesday off Portsea Pier, south-east of Melbourne.
Maritimo made the best start, but Scarlet Runner chose a better line and won the Port Phillip Sea Pilots Perpetual Trophy as the first boat through Port Phillip heads.
Date, the sail captain at the Sandringham Yacht Club, is making his Westcoaster debut.
"We got the boat ready to win the 50th Anniversary Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster - we think this is the boat to do it in," he said pre-race.
Scarlet Runner is a Carkeek 43 design built specifically for the Westcoaster and is Date's 13th boat of the same name.
It is among several boats tipped to challenge the race record of one day, 17 hours and 28 minutes, set by Shortwave in 2008.
The fleet sailed into glassy conditions on Bass Strait, but will be bracing for a westerly change of 25 to 40 knots.
