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The south coast tornado was a tornadic waterspout spawned by a supercell thunderstorm off the south coast of New South Wales on the 26th of December, 2001, during the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. The tornado passed very close to the yacht Nicorette, which was severely damaged but able to complete the race with a spare mainsail. Nicorette recorded wind speeds of close to 100 knots (115 mph, 185 km/h, 51 m/s) (making the tornado at least F2 on the Fujita scale) and was struck by hail the size of golf balls. According to the boat's meteorologist, the tornado began with a diameter of around 50 meters (165 ft), but grew in size until it was 500 meters (1640 ft) across. [1] The waterspout proceeded to strike several other boats with weaker winds. [2] The tornado should not be confused with the severe storm that wrought havoc on the race in 1998. [3]
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