Super maxi Wild Oats XI looked to be in strong shape to win the Sydney to Hobart race for the fifth time in six years, leading the fleet into Bass Strait en route to the island state of Tasmania.
Investec Loyal and Wild Thing, two other maxis, were in second and third place, respectively, about 20 nautical miles (37km) behind. The yachts left Sydney Harbor on Sunday in the 1,163km race which is being held for the 66th time.
Two men who were knocked overboard late on Sunday on a race yacht were rescued within 10 minutes. One entry, Jazz Player, withdrew with a torn mainsail on Sunday, while 12 yachts withdrew yesterday because of strong winds or equipment failure.
PHOTO: AFP/HO/ROLEX/CARLO BORLENGHI
More than 32 hours into the race, Wild Oats XI, skippered by Mark Richards, had completed more than half the distance to Hobart’s Constitution Dock and is expected to arrive late tonight or early tomorrow.
The yacht’s navigator, Adrienne Cahalan, said the seas had been “violent and awful” yesterday.
“We have spent the entire day trying to protect the yacht from damage and the crew from injury,” she said. “It’s been an enormous challenge and every one of us has been roughed up. In these conditions it’s extremely difficult keeping a boat this size and this fast from not launching off one wave and crashing into the next. When you do it’s like a truck hitting a wall.”
A crew member was injured on the Australian yacht She. Race officials said Colin Apps was seasick and fell, sustaining a head injury.
A police boat was sent out to the yacht off the New South Wales south coast to pick up Apps and transfer him to shore to hospital, where he was in satisfactory condition.
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