Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours favourite Wild Oats XI gave an early glimpse of her new speed last night when she turned out for a social sail in the St Arnou Wednesday Twilight Series.
It was the first race for the 98-footer since undergoing significant modifications following her third successive line honours victory in last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart.
Owner Bob Oatley’s objective is to set a record with four wins, and possibly a race record, in this year’s Hobart race.
With Mark Richards on the helm, Wild Oats XI last night swept away from the fleet on the first beat to windward to sail the shortened course in a fading 4-10 knot nor’easter in 43 minutes and 40 seconds.
She beat a fleet that included one of her main rival for line honours in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Andrew Short’s ASM-Shockwave 5, beating the 80-footer around the course by just over six minutes. In third place was Dick Cawse’s 60-footer Vanguard.
Wild Oats XI will sail her only long ocean race before the Rolex Sydney Hobart when she contests the CYCA’s 180 nautical Cabbage Tree Island Race starting on Friday evening. This will be her qualifier for the Hobart Race.
A fleet of 75 boats enjoyed another St Arnou Twilight Race last evening, highlighted by a sparkling sunset over the city, with race management again shortening the course for this non-spinnaker event.
On PHS corrected time Division 1 went to Outlaw (Alan & Tom Quick), Division 2 to Shiralee (Robert & Sue Segaert), Division 3 to Attitude (Robert Hunt) and Division 4 to Enbeedee (Ian Portek).
It was one of the best races so far in the St Arnou Twilight Races, with a couple of beats to windward, a reaching leg and finally a square run to the finish which saw some very close finishes, not the least being between three big cruisers racing with the cockpit sunshade canopies still aloft, gunwale to gunwale, as they squeezed past the Committee boat.
In Division 2, Salona, Francesca, Mercedes IV and In Cahoots crossed the line within 17 seconds of each other, while a few minutes astern Viking and Inkonkoni crossed four seconds apart. Shiralee won on corrected time by just two seconds from Scarlett O’Hara. – Peter Campbell
