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The fleet still stands at 82, following the maxis Nicorette and Wild Thing meeting structural safety requirements of the Australian Yachting Federation.

In the case of Kickatinalong, owned by Michael de Berg, the yacht has been accepted as an entrant subject to passing a safety inspection prior to the race. This is expected to take place tomorrow or on Christmas Day.

Terra Firma, skippered by Peter Bartels, has been given an extra 48 hours to provide the required entry safety documentation, the new deadline being 1700 hours, 24 December. The Race Committee stated that all the missing documents were safety related. In the case of Kickatinalong, the boat had complied with the new rule that two of the crew had to hold senior first aid certificates, but one of the certificates had gone missing at the time of the deadline. It had since been produced.

Earlier in the day the Swedish yacht Nicorette (Ludde Ingvall) satisfied the Race Committee by building a hatch into the foredeck to comply with the Australian Yachting Federation special regulation requiring all yachts to have two "emergency exits", one of which must be forward of the mast. Wild Thing (Grant Wharington) agreed to replace the plastic staunchions with metal ones after the International Jury had endorsed the Race Committee's ruling that pulpits, staunchions and stanchion bases must be of metal, again an AYF special regulation. Both yachts now comply with all safety regulations for the 630 nautical mile ocean race.