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Rough seas continue to wreak havoc with the Sydney to Hobart race, with more than a third of the fleet forced to retire and one sailor with a broken arm.

Monaco's Black Jack was leading from fellow supermaxis SHK Scallywag and LawConnect as they neared Bass Strait on Monday at 5:00pm (AEDT).

Thirty-two of the 88-strong fleet that left Sydney on Sunday afternoon had withdrawn, with more than a dozen of those running into trouble on Monday.

Among them was 66-foot Tasmanian yacht and 2018 overall honours winner Alive, which had to head back to Sydney after suffering hull damage and reportedly taking on water.

Sailors returning to the NSW capital said it was heavy seas that caused most problems rather the stiff southerly winds they were pushing into.

"The breeze was 33, 34 knots, which is not that bad," said No Limit crew member Declan Brennan, whose boat retired after one of their crew suffered a broken arm.

"Its curious, it wasn't angry conditions it was a just a very short, sharp seaway. The seaway was so inconsistent we were just bouncing around all over the place.

"This is a 63-foot boat. It just didn't make for a sensible thing to continue on."

The last time a similar number of yachts retired was in 2015 when 25 from a starting field of 84 failed to finish.

Cruising Yacht club of Australia commodore Noel Cornish said the tough conditions would make the race even more memorable than usual.

"Every now and again you get a race like this. We've got a lot of torn mainsails and some rigging damage that has predominantly taken these boats out," he said in Hobart.

"It will be known as a good Hobart. Over the recent years, people have had a pretty easy Hobart."

Cornish said the leading bigger boats were mostly through the bad conditions but the small and medium-sized entrants could expect another 12 hours of the southerlies.

He said signs pointed to a Tuesday afternoon line-honours finish in the River Derwent.

South Australian John Willoughby, skipper of Enchantress, said he was forced to retire after some spinnaker halyards came loose and knocked a hole in the mainsail.

It was part of a sequence of adverse events triggered by the boat being briefly plunged into darkness by an electrical fault.

Septuagenarian Willoughby has contended with a rudder falling off in three previous bluewater classics and a mast going overboard in another three.

"That's what a Sydney Hobart does for you, it gives you the knowledge and the training to be able to get yourself out of any situation," Willoughby told AAP.

"But if we had gone on with that mainsail it would have just torn to pieces."

Cornish said several crew in the fleet were still awaiting coronavirus test results.

He said sailors who returned a positive test while in NSW waters would be asked to retire and those who test positive while in Tasmanian waters would be subject to the island state's quarantine rules.

"We haven't heard anything from any of the crews about COVID-19 test results. I think there's a good reason, I don't think anybody is looking at their mobile phone at the moment," he said.

"As soon as the conditions start to lighten we'll get a good idea of where people are up to with their COVID exposure."

© AAP 2021

Rough seas have wreaked further havoc in the Sydney to Hobart race, reducing the fleet by more than a third, as the supermaxis fight it out across Bass Strait.

LawConnect had a narrow advantage at 7.30pm (AEDT) on Monday ahead of Black Jack and SHK Scallywag, with smaller 80-footer Stefan Racing in fourth spot.

More than a dozen yachts were forced to retire on Monday with a range of problems, taking the overall casualty list to 35 of the 88-strong starting fleet.

Among them was 66-foot Tasmanian yacht and 2018 overall honours winner Alive, which had to head back to Sydney after suffering hull damage and reportedly taking on water.

Sailors returning to the NSW capital said it was heavy seas that caused most problems rather the stiff southerly winds they were pushing into.

"The breeze was 33, 34 knots, which is not that bad," said No Limit crew member Declan Brennan, whose boat retired after one of their crew suffered a broken arm.

"Its curious, it wasn't angry conditions it was a just a very short, sharp seaway. The seaway was so inconsistent we were just bouncing around all over the place.

"This is a 63-foot boat. It just didn't make for a sensible thing to continue on."

The last time a similar number of yachts retired was in 2015 when 25 from a starting field of 84 failed to finish.

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia commodore Noel Cornish said the tough conditions would make the race even more memorable than usual.

"Every now and again you get a race like this. We've got a lot of torn mainsails and some rigging damage that has predominantly taken these boats out," he said in Hobart.

"It will be known as a good Hobart. Over the recent years, people have had a pretty easy Hobart."

Cornish said the leading bigger boats were mostly through the bad conditions but the small and medium-sized entrants could expect another 12 hours of the southerlies.

He said signs pointed to a Tuesday afternoon line-honours finish in the River Derwent.

Stefan Racing skipper Grant Wharington described Sunday night's racing as "really uncomfortable".

"A couple of guys haven't been feeling that well ... it's pretty testing conditions, he said.

South Australian John Willoughby, skipper of Enchantress, said he was forced to retire after some spinnaker halyards came loose and knocked a hole in the mainsail.

It was part of a sequence of adverse events triggered by the boat being briefly plunged into darkness by an electrical fault.

"If we had gone on with that mainsail it would have just torn to pieces.," Willoughby, who has dealt with rudders falling off in previous races, told AAP.

Cornish said several crew in the fleet were still awaiting coronavirus test results.

He said sailors who returned a positive test while in NSW waters would be asked to retire and those who test positive while in Tasmanian waters would be subject to the island state's quarantine rules.

"We haven't heard anything from any of the crews about COVID-19 test results. I think there's a good reason, I don't think anybody is looking at their mobile phone at the moment," he said.

"As soon as the conditions start to lighten we'll get a good idea of where people are up to with their COVID exposure."

© AAP 2021

Marcus Harris' will likely pay a financial cost for the innings that has saved his Test career.

The Australia opener edged and near-missed his way to 76 before his dismissal before tea on day two of the third Ashes Test at the MCG.

Jimmy Anderson finally ended the left-hander's dogged resistance when he had Harris caught by captain Joe Root at first slip.

It was the struggling Harris' second-highest Test score, featuring seven fours and 189 deliveries.

This was also his highest Test score in 18 innings, going back to his career-high 79 against India in the 2019 New Year's match, and only his third half-ton.

When dismissed he had top-scored as Australia reached 6-196 in reply to England's 185 on an MCG green top.

Coach Justin Langer and the selectors had kept faith with Harris after a string of low scores, determined to settle on an Test opening partner for David Warner.

While Harris certainly booked his ticket to Sydney for the fourth Test, it will probably leave him out of pocket.

He is likely to be fined after the stump mic clearly caught an exchange with English bowler Ben Stokes.

Harris had made 36 when was given out lbw off Stokes, but he successfully reviewed the decision.

After the hotspot technology showed nothing to help the Australian, Snicko clearly picked up an inside edge onto his pad.

Stokes then asked Harris what had happened.

"I wasn't, like, 100 per cent sure ... I thought it might have clipped both pads and maybe an inside edge," the Australian told him.

"Hotspot's f***ing hopeless."

Teammate Travis Head was fined for swearing at himself while batting in the first Test.

But Harris' expletive would have been nothing compared to the swearing under their breath from the English pacemen as he continually frustrated them.

They beat his outside edge repeatedly and Harris never looked fluent.

Still, he survived to anchor the Australian innings.

As the Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne dismissals showed before lunch, this MCG strip continues to be difficult for batting.

Unlike England on day one, Harris played no reckless shots.

While England rallied to restrict Australia's first innings, they might have played Harris back into some sort of form.

After Harris only managed three and 23 in Adelaide's second Test, he looked in doubt to play at his home ground on Boxing Day.

But team hierarchy made it clear they wanted to give him every chance to convert solid Sheffield Shield form into a steady Test berth.

© AAP 2021