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American yachts lead Sydney-Hobart, Wild Oats out
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American yachts Comanche and Rambler 88 led the Sydney to Hobart fleet into Bass Strait yesterday in a race with nearly 30 retirements due to bad weather, including eight-time and defending champion Wild Oats XI.
Nearly 34 hours into the race, the 100-foot super maxi Comanche, skippered by Ken Read and which was forced to make repairs to a damaged rudder after an overnight storm, led Rambler 88 by 10 nautical miles.
Comanche had covered nearly 400 of the 628 nautical miles to Hobart on the island state of Tasmania. Rambler 88 took the race lead when Comanche had the rudder problems which were serious enough for Read and his crew to consider pulling out and returning to Sydney.
Comanche passed Rambler 88, which is skippered and owned by George David, in easing winds just before the 24-hour mark yesterday. Based on current projections, the leading yacht could cross the finish line at Constitution Dock in Hobart late today.
Rambler 88 had equipment problems of its own later. “We had a bit of a disaster ... we hit a submerged object with our starboard daggerboard so our boat speed on port tack is severely limited,” navigator Andrew Cape said. “It was a pretty solid hit ... it knocked the boat and did quite a bit of damage to the board, so it’s not the best scenario.”
Australia’s Ragamuffin 100, the only other super maxi left in the race, was in third place, followed by Italian yacht Maserati.
The Sydney-Hobart race hasn’t had a foreign winner since Swedish entry Assa Abloy in 2001.
Wild Oats XI, also a super maxi, retired late on Saturday when its mainsail was torn in half by the storm.
“To fight on, we could have put the crew into real dangerous situations,” Wild Oats skipper Mark Richards said when the yacht returned to Sydney.
Another potential line honors winner, super maxi Perpetual Loyal, left the race with a broken rudder. It also sailed back to Sydney with a crew that included former Australia cricket captain Michael Clarke and rugby player Kurtley Beale.
The 29 retirements, of 108 starters, by late yesterday were already higher than last year’s 14 for the entire race.
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