Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Line Honours video
by Bow Caddy Media 28 Dec 2017 05:22 GMT
28 December 2017
Wild Oats XI stretches out over LDV Comanche towards the finish line © Studio Borlenghi / Rolex / Luca Butto
As the media boats reached the Iron Pot just before sunset to follow Wild Oats XI and Comanche up the River Derwent to the finish line, it was hard to believe that the slow motion arm-wrestle playing out between the two super maxis, catching two and three knot zephyrs, was going to result in both boats smashing last year's record breaking race time.
After leading the race for most of the course from Sydney – but with Wild Oats XI hard on their heels - it was clear to the Comanche crew that it would all come down the Derwent River. If there was 5-10 knots of breeze they could probably hold on to win, but anything less and Wild Oats XI would have the legs on them.
As it transpired when the breeze dropped out totally near Opossum Bay, it was Wild Oats XI that was first to capture a westerly zephyr leaving Comanche as flat footed as an aircraft carrier - an epithet commonly ascribed to her.
From then Wild Oats XI stretched away and crossed the finish line off Battery Point in a record time of 1 Day 8 hours 48 minutes, some 4 hours 40 minutes faster than last year's race.
But – and it's a big but – the final Line Honours result still hinges on the result of a protest from Comanche for a port and starboard incident with Wild Oats XI as they were leaving the harbour on Boxing Day. The International Jury will hear the protest this afternoon – Thursday 28th December – and the outcome will be known later this afternoon.