CHAMPAGNE FINISH
Wild Oats XI scores race record ... but it ain’t over yet
WILD Oats XI staged a dramatic comeback over rival Comanche to smash the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race record and claim line honours for the ninth time.
The Oatley-family owned supermaxi crossed the finish line in Hobart at 9.48pm yesterday — about 27 min- utes ahead of LDV Comanche — to slash almost five hours off the record.
But Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards and his crew must now wait on the outcome of a protest by Comanche over a close call at sea, before having the win officially ratified.
JAMES BRESNEHAN REPORTS,
WILD Oats XI claimed its ninth Sydney to Hobart line honours title and third race record last night, but could have it stripped away today by a protest from second-placed Comanche.
Wild Oats tore its spinnaker off Tasmania’s East Coast yesterday and then made up huge ground on race leader Comanche, turning what had been a super-fast race into a snail- paced tacking duel in little and sometimes no breeze when the supermaxis entered the River Derwent.
Oats skipper Mark Richards outsmarted the world’s premier match-racer, Aussie maestro James Spithill, a dual Americas Cup-winning helms- man sailing Comanche, in a desperate crawl for the line.
However, the line honours runner-up by 27 minutes will protest and take the race to the jury room this morning.
The multimillion-dollar machines almost crashed outside Sydney Heads just after the race start on Tuesday, when Wild Oats tacked in front of Comanche.
An international jury of three will decide the winner, but Richards is not worried.
“Sure, there’s a shadow — there’s an incident there which I think was totally innocent and we should be able to defend ourselves against that,” he said last night.
“It’s not the Americas Cup. It’s the Sydney-Hobart. The rules are quite different.
“We did exactly what we had to do in that situation to keep the boat safe and in one piece.
“I’m not concerned about it at all.
“If those guys want to protest us on that sort of situation, that’s their call.
“That’s yacht racing and we’ll see how we go.”
Comanche crossed Storm Bay late in the afternoon in the race lead late, powering along at up to 30 knots until it got within 200m of the Iron Pot lighthouse — 11 nautical miles from the finish.
It stopped dead in the water when the breeze dropped out, allowing Wild Oats XI to sail within 100m of the 2015 line honours champion.
From there, it was a game of cat and mouse.
Wild Oats XI drew level at 8.16pm, and then crept into the lead at 8.34pm. Although the going was painfully slow, and its lead tenuous, Wild Oats XI crossed at 9.49pm to set a new race record of 1 day, 8 hours, 48 mins and 50 secs, slashing 4h42m30s of Perpetual Loyal’s 2016 record.
“The dream came true — the Derwent with no wind in it — and for the first time in the 13 years of us doing the Hobart race, it became a very thankful sight.
“It was a tricky situation for both boats, and Wild Oats was just a better boat in those light conditions.”
Sydney TP52 Quest led the race on handicap last night from Ichi Ban (NSW) and Mascalzone Latino (Italy).
Three yachts were forced to retire yesterday.