Favourites retire from Sydney to Hobart race

Comanche co-owner Kristy Clark, the first female owner to take Sydney-Hobart line honours, said there were many emotions at sea, including “pure terror at one stage”.

There were blustery conditions and a strong north easterly wind for the start of the annual Sydney to Hobart race – the wind and conditions nearly flawless for the favourites to push ahead out of Sydney Harbour.

Badly damaged and having come close to withdrawing, American yacht Comanche crossed the finish line Monday to take line honors in a storm-wracked Sydney to Hobart race.

The Sydney to Hobart race hasn’t had a foreign victor since Swedish entry Assa Abloy in 2001.

On its first attempt at the 630-nautical-mile classic in 2014, Comanche lost its early lead and ultimately had to settle for second place as Wild Oats XI won a record eighth line honours title.

Last year, Comanche, a wide-bodied yacht which prefers stronger winds, led the fleet out of the harbor and for much of the early part of the race.

“We used what pressure there was to slip by Rambler”, Team Ragamuffin posted on their Facebook page.

Ragamuffin passed Rambler as the yachts turned towards Hobart and throughout Tuesday morning they crept along the Derwent River to the finish at barely two knots. The Comanche is shown at the 1:11 mark.

Australian rival and 2014 line honours victor Wild Oats XI had initially led in the moments after the starter’s horn blew, but was overtaken by supermaxi Perpetual Loyal before Comanche took the lead after unfurling her big spinaker. “Before you know it we had a dagger board that was trying to break a hole in the bottom of the hull and trying to rip our rudder out at the time same time”.

“It’s pretty frightful out there – it’s really nasty”, the race spokeswoman said.

Second in the line honours race, American boat Rambler, is third and at No. 2 is the race fleet’s smallest contender, NSW boat Quickpoint Azzurro, measuring just 33 feet and carrying a crew of six. It pits amateur sailors against professional crews.

After deciding to battle on, Comanche then staged a 13-hour chase to catch up with Rambler 88, before overtaking George David’s yacht whose crew belatedly discovered their yacht had also sustained damage.

The heavy knock dislodged the dagger board which was flailing beneath the boat, attached only by ropes.

The 29 retirements, of 108 starters, by late Sunday were already higher than last year’s 14 for the entire race. The Australian yacht Victoire pulled out Sunday when skipper Darryl Hodgkinson suffered broken ribs and a suspected punctured lung in a fall.

“It’s about a four-and-a-half month ordeal to get down here and back and it’s one race and there are lots of other things to do in the world”.

Past year on race debut Comanche came second to defending champion Wild Oats XI which in 2015 retired on day one with sail damage.