RED FLAG MARS START
LINE honours favourite LDV Comanche has started to assert itself on the Sydney to Hobart fleet after lodging a formal protest against rival supermaxi Wild Oats XI because of a near miss between the boats.
LDV Comanche raised a protest flag about 15 minutes after the start yesterday.
Eight-times line honours winner Wild Oats XI sailed across Comanche after they passed through Sydney Heads.
The multimillion-dollar boats containing a cluster of elite sailors, including Jimmy Spithill, Stan Honey and Iain Murray, came frighteningly close to colliding.
“We had a near miss with Wild Oats,” said Comanche skipper Jim Cooney.
If Wild Oats thought it had done something wrong, it had the option of doing a penalty turn.
“We didn’t think there was an infraction,” said Wild Oats navigator Ian Burns.
“We discussed the 720-degree penalty and decided we didn’t need to under the circumstances.
“We continued on aware of the fact Comanche put up the red protest flag.”
It’s believed Wild Oats could receive a time penalty after the race finishes if it’s found to have done something wrong.
Another supermaxi, Black Jack, led the fleet of 102 boats out of Sydney Harbour, with the vessels chasing a race record amid “dream” conditions in the annual dash down Australia’s east coast.
The large boats benefited from the light east to southeasterly winds.
Comanche took over the lead as the vessels tracked down the coast of New South Wales, ahead of Wild Oats and Black Jack in a close race, with the fourth superyacht, InfoTrack, behind them.
InfoTrack, named Perpetual Loyal last year, set a record time of 1 day 13hr 31min 20sec to take the 2016 line honours.
Wild Oats tactician Murray said that “in all my 24 times of going down here, it’s never been as good as this”.
“It’s very rare that you get this continually off-the-wind, cross-the-wind, wind start-tofinish sort of scenario,” Murray said. “It’s something we all dream about, really.
“The numbers suggest a race record is easily achievable for any of the maxi boats.
“It’s just getting around the corners is the hard part.”
IT’S VERY RARE THAT YOU GET THIS CONTINUALLY OFF-THE-WIND, CROSS-THEWIND, WIND START-TOFINISH SORT OF SCENARIO. IT’S SOMETHING WE ALL DREAM ABOUT, REALLY IAIN MURRAY, WILD OATS TACTICIAN