Wild Oats XI’s dominance of the Sydney to Hobart race — a remarkable four consecutive wins — is expected to come under threat by a combination of late repairs to its keel, unfavorable weather and the presence of several big-name maxi yachts.
In 2007, Wild Oats XI, skippered by Mark Richards, finished the 1,163km race in a record 1 day, 21 hours, 24 minutes, after crossing the line at Constitution Dock on the southern island state of Tasmania. It was about two hours slower in winning the race last year.
On Wednesday, Wild Oats XI was lifted from the water for keel repairs. An underwater inspection of the supermaxi’s hull on Tuesday revealed the keel was damaged when it hooked onto a buoy and line attached to a fish trap off Sydney Heads.
While the damage was not structural, the keel’s leading edge was serrated, a problem serious enough to cause speed-reducing turbulence. Repairs were done and the boat was returned to the water later on Wednesday.
“The damage is only superficial, but we need absolutely everything going for us in this year’s Hobart race, so it was imperative that we fixed it,” Richards said.
Etihad Stadium, formerly known as Skandia, made a rushed mast replacement and was expected to take its place in the 100-yacht fleet.
Britain’s ICAP Leopard hopes to take advantage of strong headwinds on the first night of the race after the fleet leave Sydney Harbour today for the race’s traditional Boxing Day start.
Other supermaxis in the race include Lahana, Alfa Romeo, Investec Loyal, Rapture and YuuZoo.
Alfa Romeo is one of the most successful maxis ever, with 143 line-honor victories. Owned and skippered by Sydney-based New Zealander Neville Crichton, who claimed line honors in 2002, Alfa is almost identical in design to Wild Oats XI, to which it finished runner-up four years ago.
ICAP Leopard has also collected a host of line-honor wins, including two in the Fastnet race. Slower downwind than Oats and Alfa, Leopard will be the favorite to reach Hobart first if the race becomes a heavy upwind slog.
Investec Loyal, formerly known as Maximus, attracted pre-race publicity because of a crew which contains several stars from other sports. Olympic swimming gold medalist Grant Hackett, world boxing champion Danny Green and rugby players Phil Waugh and Phil Kearns are all scheduled to sail south with experienced skipper Sean Langman.
Yachts representing the British military will also take part in the race, just one leg of the year-long Exercise Transglobe, a training and decompression activity for serving personnel, many of them just back from service in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Adventure of Hornet is the British navy boat, Challenger of Hornet is the army yacht and Discoverer of Hornet is the Royal Air Force boat.
Darren Gale is the skipper of Challenger of Hornet and competed in the 2006 Sydney to Hobart as a member of the Royal Corps of Signals. The yacht went to the rescue of the crew from the small historic wooden boat Koomooloo, which sank off Jervis Bay.
The race, which was first held in 1945, has been hit by severe storms in the past.
In 1998, six sailors died and seven boats sank during a storm that hit the fleet early on the first night of the race. In 2007, eight sailors had to abandon a sinking vessel and three others were airlifted to hospital with injuries.
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
RSS