Alfa Romeo wins line honours

New Zealand maxi Alfa Romeo cruised to a comfortable win in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race yesterday, taking line honours in the 65th annual ocean classic.

The 100-foot yacht crossed the finish line of the 628 nautical mile race down the southern half of Australia's east coast in Hobart shortly after 10 p.m. (noon Malta time).

Alfa Romeo led the 100-strong fleet out of Sydney Harbour on Saturday and was never once overtaken during her two days, nine hours, two minutes and 10 seconds on the water.

Race favourite and four-time line honours winner, Australian maxi Wild Oats XI, was in second position late yesterday, about 16 nautical miles behind Alfa Romeo with British yacht ICAP Leopard a further 24 miles behind.

Alfa Romeo skipper Neville Crichton said his boat was able to hold off a late charge by Wild Oats XI after taking advantage of winds on Sunday morning which eluded other competitors.

"When it got light off Gabo Island we did open a great gap up (about 20 nautical miles) on both ICAP Leopard and Wild Oats," he said shortly before crossing the line.

The 2009 Sydney to Hobart has been a slow and calm race, with many boats struggling to catch breezes in the often perilous Bass Strait, which divides mainland Australia from the southern island of Tasmania.

The win is overdue for Alfa Romeo, which was defeated by Wild Oats XI the last time it competed in this race, in 2005. That year, the Australian boat set a record time of one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds.

One of the biggest spectator fleets accompanied Alfa Romeo up the final few miles yesterday as Crichton recorded a second line honours victory with a seasoned crew of 22 Australian, New Zealand and British round-the-world and America's Cup sailors. Crichton won the 2002 ocean race with a previous Alfa Romeo but lost in a dramatic duel to Wild Oats XI four years back.

A huge crowd gathered along the shore to welcome the victorious crew, the win capping an extraordinary tally of 143 line honours wins worldwide for the supermaxi.

If Alfa wins the race on handicap, she will be only the seventh boat in the history of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart race to be both first over the finish line and the overall winner on corrected time.