Hobart: Super maxi Wild Oats XI looked to be in strong shape to win the Sydney to Hobart race for the fifth time in six years, leading the fleet into Bass Strait en route to the island state of Tasmania.
Investec Loyal and Wild Thing, two other maxis, were in second and third place, respectively, about 20 nautical miles behind. The yachts left Sydney Harbour on Sunday in the 628-nautical-mile (723-mile, 1,163-kilometre) race which is being held for the 66th time.
Two men who were knocked overboard late on Sunday on a race yacht were rescued within 10 minutes. One entry, Jazz Player, withdrew with a torn mainsail on Sunday, while 12 yachts withdrew yesterday due to strong winds or equipment failure.
Violent and awful
More than 32 hours into the race, Wild Oats XI, skippered by Mark Richards, had completed more than half the distance to Hobart's Constitution Dock and was expected to arrive late tonight or early tomorrow morning.
Wild Oats XI hold the race record of 1 day, 18 hours, 40 minutes, set in 2005. The yacht's navigator, Adrienne Cahalan, said the seas had been "violent and awful" yesterday.
"We have spent the entire day trying to protect the yacht from damage and the crew from injury," she said. "It's been an enormous challenge and every one of us has been roughed up. In these conditions it's extremely difficult keeping a boat this size and this fast from not launching off one wave and crashing into the next. When you do it's like a truck hitting a wall."
A crew member was injured on the Australian yacht She. Race officials said Colin Apps was seasick and fell, sustaining a head injury. A police boat was sent out to the yacht off the New South Wales south coast to pick up Apps and transfer him to shore to hospital, where he was in satisfactory condition.
Two crew members of former line honours winner YuuZoo fell overboard on Sunday during a gust of wind and heavy rain. The yacht, which had damage to its headsail, was one of those which withdrew yesterday.
Greg Homann and Will Mueller spent more than 10 minutes bobbing in the waves before owner-skipper Ludde Ingvall turned the 90-foot maxi around and rescued them.
