Perpetual Loyal crew votes to decide the race out on the water THE result of the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race hung in the balance for almost four hours yesterday afternoon when it appeared the outcome would again not be decided on the water but in a protest room at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania on New Year's Eve. It would have been the fourth time in five years that a protest hearing decided the country's foremost ocean race. But Perpetual Loyal owner-skipper Anthony Bell radioed race headquarters late yesterday afternoon to say he had held a team meeting aboard the supermaxi and they had voted not to go ahead with the protest.