USA yacht Comanche 1st out of harbor in Sydney to Hobart race

Photo taken on December 26, 2015 shows Supermaxi yachts Rambler (L) Perpetual Loyal (2nd-L) Wild Oats XI (R) and Comanche (2nd-R) after the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney.

Maxi yachts Perpetual Loyal (left) and Wild Oats XI are both out of the reckoning in this year’s Sydney-Hobart race.

Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin 100 is the latest of the supermaxis to suffer daggerboard problems in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, but in this case, it is the port daggerboard, and it has completely sheared off, forcing the crew to use desperate measures to continue in the 628-nautical mile race.

Wislang, Nick Burridge, Warwick Fleury, Kelvin Harrap and Nick Mutter were the Kiwis on board Jim Clark’s boat skippered by Ken Read and whose crew included winning America’s Cup skipper Jimmy Spithill.

Remarkably, after a 13-hour pursuit, Comanche caught and passed the then race leader, the American 88-footer Rambler 88 that is owned by American multimillionaire and retired businessman George David.

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

There was little time for celebrating for Wislang as he headed home to Nelson.

There were 27 worldwide starters, including 12 from the Clipper Round the World Race, who are competing in the Sydney to Hobart as the fifth leg of their series.

Daryl Wislang was one of five New Zealanders aboard Sydney to Hobart victor Comanche. It is also the first time since 1998 that a USA yacht has won the “blue water” event.

“Comanche, with the lead she has on the rest of the fleet, will be the first boat in”, he told the Seven Network on Monday. Perennial victor Wild Oats XI was forced to retire on Sunday after its main sail split in half in wild weather.

Read did so even during the toughest times, such as in the hours after he resumed steering Comanche with a damaged dagger board and rudder in the brutal southerly that struck on Saturday night. “We went from, ‘Let’s just finish, ‘ to ‘Holy crap, we might win this thing, ‘” Read said.

“We came here to finish, one way or another we’ll finish this damn race”, he said.

“It was pitch black and the boat was crashing through the waves at 11 knots”.

“As soon as I heard that they were going to keep going I knew that… this racing crew would not stop unless they could [not] keep going”, he said. “I have a feeling we’ve got some pretty big gashes”.

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

There’s also the prospect of attempting the trans-Atlantic record later in the year.

Sitting high in the overall standings on Monday, Rambler selected a route close to Tasmania’s east coast where she struggled to find wind and by Tuesday afternoon when docked, had dropped to outside the top-50 on corrected time.