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Wild Oats XI takes Round One
Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour proves a great display of sheer sailing powerIt has been a long time coming, but at last we have seen Bob Oatley’s six-time Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winner, Wild Oats XI, go head to head against Perpetual LOYAL, widely tipped as the boat most likely to rain on Bob Oatley’s parade in 2013.
Perpetual LOYAL owner Anthony Bell did it in 2011 with his former Loyal, (now racing as Ragamuffin 100), and is very optimistic he can do it again in a boat often acclaimed as the fastest 100 foot super maxi in the world.
In a much stronger than forecast nor-westerly Perpetual LOYAL and Wild Oats XI followed a give-no-quarter start with a neck-and-neck reach down the first leg past Shark Island, with Perpetual LOYAL holding a slight edge.
Nothing changed as they tacked up to Fort Denison. In the strong breeze and flat water they looked very even in boat speed, with Perpetual LOYAL looking just so fast, and oh so powerful. Maybe a bit too powerful. As she surged past the stone fortress a big gust swept across Perpetual LOYAL and blew out her huge R1 headsail.
“We carried the R1 in stronger conditions than we should,” a rueful Bell remarked post-race.
”In a longer race we would have changed our headsail sooner. But this is a fun day, we were going very fast….we popped it.”
While Perpetual LOYAL struggled, Wild Oats XI slipped past, and with a big reef in her mainsail to counter the gusts she just took off. Maintaining her full mainsail a still over-powered Perpetual LOYAL struggled and Wild Oats XI pulled further and further away.
With her replacement mast, installed just last night, Wild Oats XI finished the race as we have seen her do so often, with an intimidating display of precise crew work and raw boat speed. She took line honours for the seventh time in the Big Boat Challenge.
Further back in the fleet, the strong conditions, so problematic for the 100 footers, were just what Rob Hanna, at the helm of his TP52 Shogun V wanted. TP 52s revel in a strong breeze and flat water, and Shogun V just looked fast all around the race track. And the looks were not deceiving.
Shogun V edged out Matt Allen’s brand new Carkeek 60 Ichi Ban to win the 2013 SOLAS Big Boat Challenge on corrected time by 1 minute 26 seconds.
While Wild Oats XI and Perpetual LOYAL battled it out for line honours, not far astern Peter Harburg’s new Volvo 70 Black Jack set about stealing the show. Indeed, after a brilliant start the 70 footer powered around Shark Island and round the second mark in the lead, ahead of the Big 3, the 100 foot supermaxis Perpetual LOYAL, Wild Oats XI and Wild Thing.
“We were thrilled,” Harburg said later. “I couldn’t believe we led for the first two marks.”
While all the Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours talk is about Wild Oats XI and Perpetual LOYAL, Harburg believes that in the right conditions his smaller, slipperier boat is faster than the maxis and sees the race as wide open.
It was a disappointing day for Wild Thing, the other 100 footer in today’s SOLAS Big Boat Challenge fleet. Grant Wharrington jumped the start and had to go back to do it all over again. His race was over before it started. At times Wild Thing looked very fast, at other times sluggish. In the end she crossed the line fourth, behind Black Jack.
“Welcome to 100 footers,” quipped Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards, who knows he has a real race on his hands after Christmas. “Loyal is an impressive piece of kit.”
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Written byBoatsales Staff
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