Just Wild

Photo by Carlo Borlenghi

Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI powered home this morning the 28th of December to smash the race record previously held by Nokia from the 1999 race.

In the coverage from Channel 7, their Sunrise program showed the crew decked in red on the crisp Wednesday morning cracking the champagne and celebrating as they made the treck up the Derwent River to Constitution Dock where the crowd of spectators gathered round to witness yachting history.

Sailing in under headsail only, Wild Oats was still reaching speeds of 10 to 11 knots dodging the fleet of powerboats out bright and early to welcome the yachtsman home.  The massive mainsail was shreaded in last nights storm where winds gusting to 40 knots shattered the batterns like twigs.

The race record now stands at 01:18:40:10, which is a whole 1 hour 7 minutes and 52 seconds from Nokia’s record for the 628 nautical mile race set in 1999.

Local yachts Heaven Can Wait, Sweethart, Wedgetail and Koomooloo are still making their way down the Australian Coast bound for Hobart to join in with the celebrations.

On a personal note, I must say that we were a little disappointed with the coverage of the start of the race.  The focus was again on just the super maxis and boats that showcased the image that would enhance the presentation on screen.  The commentators had incorrect information and even said that Heaven Can Wait was still a Middle Harbour Yacht Club boat!  Hmmm…  One day these sports readers will understand there is more to yacht racing than super maxis.  There are only a handful of boats over 80′, the rest are absolute troopers making their way south across the infamous Bass Strait in yachts with an average LOA of 40 to 45′.

In other news, the 29er fleet raced their first heats of the National Championships currently being held at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.  For heat by heat results, click here.