The wind lottery on the Derwent River has crushed little Zeus II's bid to take overall handicap honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

The nine-metre, 23-year-old Sydney yacht was the equal smallest, second slowest and third oldest yacht in the field.

But it went within eight and a half minutes, about half a nautical mile, of snatching victory from Quest on corrected time.

The crew of Quest had been anxiously waiting since their boat became the dockside leader on Sunday.

If a stiff sea breeze had kicked in 15 minutes earlier, the sentimental favourite probably would have won.

As it was, Bob Steel's highly fancied 14.19-metre Quest was the race winner, with Zeus II second and another early finisher, Another Challenge, third.

Steel said the win was the "Everest of my sailing career over 35 years".

The handicap system that decides the official winner, as distinct from first across the line, equalises the yachts in terms of size, technology and crew numbers.

It rewards good sailing but no system can equalise the cruel vagaries of the Derwent.

Quest finished at 9.03am on Sunday and then waited to see what the smaller yachts did.

One by one they dropped out of contention until only Zeus II was left, needing to finish at 10.08 to win.

That looked likely on Sunday night.

"I pulled down the battle flag and skulked off to bed thinking it was all over," Steel said.

Despite what his spies along the river told him, he refused to believe he'd won until the deadline had ticked by.

Zeus II's skipper Jim Dunstan said he was in with a chance at the river mouth.

"The southeasterly had kicked in and we were making good time, but then the wind faded," he said.

"It picked up again near the finish line, but by then it was too late. If it had come 15 minutes earlier we would have won."

Steel was sympathetic, but only a little.

He's had two previous seconds, including having a smaller boat steal the race from him by seven minutes after he'd been dockside leader for about 30 hours in 1995.

Just as ecstatic was his sailing master Mike Green, who's been runner-up five times in 24 races.

The race was Dunstan's 16th and last in Zeus II. They won in 1981, but this year, he said, was their fastest and easiest trip south.

Fast and easy it was. Alfa Romeo took line honours on Saturday evening in the third fastest time on record and when last boat Berrimilla finished at 12.23pm on Monday, it was the fastest completion ever.

Apart from the two boats forced out by collisions at the start, none suffered serious damage.

Sun fish and whales were bigger hazards in a race held in unusually benign weather.

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