Sydney Hobart Race : Wild Oats XI wins 4th Time in a Row

30 December 2008 No Comment

Wild Oats XI overcame an encounter with a 2-metre shark to win the Sydney to Hobart yacht race for a record fourth consecutive time on Sunday.

Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards steered the maxi yacht across the finish line at Constitution Dock on the island state of Tasmania one day 20 hours 34 minutes 14 seconds after leaving Sydney Harbour on Friday.

The time was about two hours slower that the record it set in 2005 for the 628-nautical mile (1,163-kilometre) race.

Another maxi, 2003 winner Skandia, skippered by Grant Wharington, led for much of Saturday across Bass Strait but finished second, one hour seven minutes behind Wild Oats.

On Saturday night, while duelling for the lead with Skandia, Wild Oats hit a shark which became entangled in its rudder.

Richards said the collision had a positive outcome – having to stop and reverse the yacht to clear it from the rudder also removed some debris from its keel that had slowed the boat since the start.

“It was a godsend in the end because the second we got him (the shark) off, the boat was back to its old self,” Richards said.

“It might have been something off a spectator boat. But we just never stopped. When you are doing 20 to 25 knots all the time it’s a hard thing to work out what to actually do. So we were sort of waiting for the opportunity …”

It was the first time that any yacht has won four successive races in the event’s 64-year history.

Last year, Wild Oats XI equalled the record of three in a row held by Morna in the 1940s. Wild Oats XI holds the course record of one day 18 hours 40 minutes 10 seconds.

Wild Oats XI led the 100-yacht fleet out of Sydney Harbour and exchanged the lead with Skandia several times.

Two boats retired.

Georgia, a New Zealand-built Farr 52 owned by race veterans John Williams and Graeme Ainley, broke a rudder after possibly hitting a whale. The boat took on water and later sank. Two nearby boats rescued the 14 crew who were taken to shore on a police boat.

The other retirement, the 50-year-old boat Sanyo Maris, pulled out with broken equipment and returned to Sydney.

The race, which was first held in 1945, had been hit by severe storms in the past. This race marked the 10th anniversary of the 1998 event in which six sailors died and seven boats sank during a storm.
(Source)