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'Wild Oats' wins Sydney to Hobart race for third time

Closely challenged at the end but never caught, Wild Oats XI became the first yacht in nearly 60 years to win the Sydney to Hobart race three times in a row.

Wild Oats, skippered by Mark Richards, finished the 628-nautical mile (1,163km) race yesterday in 1 day, 21 hours, 24 minutes, crossing the line at Constitution Dock in Hobart at 10.24am.

"We came here to do a job and that was to claim the treble," Richards said. "We were challenged, we were chased and we were constantly looking over our shoulders but we are here now and it's time to celebrate."

"Back next year for a fourth? You never know, you'll have to talk to Bob," he said.

Bob Oatley's 30m maxi was the pre-race favorite and dominated since the opening minutes of Australia's premier yacht race which began from Sydney Harbor on Wednesday.

The Sydney yacht led the fleet out of the harbor and in the opening 10 hours of the race surged down the New South Wales coast in almost perfect conditions. Light southwesterly winds in the Bass Strait on Thursday ended any chance of the boat improving on its own race record set two years ago.

Wild Oats crossed the finish line ahead of the British maxi City Index Leopard, skippered by Mike Slade, who staged a dramatic comeback yesterday morning.

At one stage the two front-runners were 21 nautical miles apart, but by the time the crew of Wild Oats heard the sound of cannon fire at the finish line, City Index Leopard was in the Derwent River and only four nautical miles away.
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