Wild Oats XI regains the lead on Loyal
Print Edition
Defending champion Wild Oats XI retook the lead over fellow super maxi Perpetual Loyal yesterday as the two yachts dueled for line honors in the Sydney to Hobart race.
Perpetual Loyal led by 18.5 kilometers before Wild Oats XI made its move. With the yachts at the halfway point of the 1,163-kilometer trip to Hobart, Wild Oats XI had taken a lead of five nautical miles.
Another super maxi, Ragamuffin 100, was 16.6 kilometers behind in third.
“This race is so unbelievable,” said Perpetual Loyal’s skipper Anthony Bell.
“Who would have thought that we were winning this morning when we woke up... and how quickly the lead changed when the wind just stopped.”
Based on current weather forecasts of very light winds at the finish, the winner was not expected to reach Hobart until early tomorrow morning, well off Wild Oat XI’s race record set last year of 1 day, 18 hours, 23 minutes, 12 seconds.
Race officials also warned of dangerous conditions and strong winds late today for the slower and smaller yachts still sailing across Bass Strait from the Australian mainland.
In 1998, six sailors died and five yachts sank in a storm that hit the fleet early in the race.
Bell said his crew was hoping for stronger winds that would better suit his 100-footer in the last half of the race.
“We are sailing as well as we can in really light winds that don’t suit our boat,” he said. “We’re looking hard for more wind.”
Perpetual Loyal has among its crew London Olympics laser gold medalist Tom Slingsby, the Australian who was strategist on the winning Team Oracle USA boat at this year’s America’s Cup. Also on board is Jessica Watson, the Australian who four years ago became the youngest person to sail unassisted around the world solo as a 16-year-old.
Wild Oats XI is owned by wine mogul Bob Oatley, who is heading the Australian challenge for the next America’s Cup and is the Challenger of Record through his Hamilton Island Yacht Club.
There were 94 starters, including 22 from outside Australia, and two retirements by late yesterday due to equipment and rigging failures.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
