Wild Oats XI was awarded provisional line honours in the challenging Sydney to Hobart ocean race yesterday but celebrations were muted as the supermaxi risks being disqualified due to a protest.
Four-time line honours champion Wild Oats XI stormed to the finish at speeds of 15-19 knots over the final leg, reaching Hobart’s historic Battery Point at 8:37 p.m. after two days, seven hours, 37 minutes and 20 seconds of sailing.
The boat’s crew will learn today whether penalties will cost it the race after organisers cited the yacht, along with English competitor Ran, for breaching a mandatory reporting regulation.
Under the rule, competitors are required to check in with officials via HF radio before entering the treacherous Bass Strait.
“Both have reported only by telephone, which does not comply, so the protests were lodged at 5.05 p.m. today,” committee chairman Tim Cox said.
Cox said the rules were put in place after the 1998 Sydney to Hobart in which a fierce storm sank five yachts, killing six sailors.
“This is a fundamental safety issue,” he said.
“Should a situation occur, we cannot organise search and rescue operations via telephones. I consider this a serious breach,” he said.
The 100-foot maxi Wild Oats XI led the race since Sunday’s start out of Sydney Harbour and was some 30 nautical miles ahead of its nearest rival Investec Loyal at the finish. Ichi Ban was a further 51 nautical miles behind and in third place.
Wild Oats XI will be subject to the findings of an international jury which will meet at Hobart’s Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania today.
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Garry Linacre said possible sanctions ranged from minor time penalties to disqualification.
The protests follow a wild and miserable night at sea during which one yacht was dismasted and more than a dozen others forced to withdraw.
“I’d be lying to say it wasn’t tough,” Lahana helmsman Geoff Cropley said.
“It was a tough day, miserable and cold. This particular boat spent a fair amount of time in the air, slamming off waves which made life pretty uncomfortable.
“We had to be pretty conservative. Reduce sail. Steer through the waves, not slam off them. Slamming is how you break the boat.”
Sixteen yachts have dropped out of the perilous dash down Australia’s southeast coast, including Bacardi, which lost its mast in six-metre (20-foot) waves and gales of some 35 knots late Monday.
“There was an explosion when the deck disintegrated,” skipper Martin Power said of the noise which ripped through the boat as it was battered by the waves.
“I saw the mast go. That was quiet, but when the chain-plates peeled the deck away, there was a tremendous noise.”
Power, who has crossed the Bass Strait some 95 times, said he had never encountered such conditions as those which hit on Sunday, forcing a string of vessels to quit the race.
Seventy-one boats remain in the 628-nautical mile race from an original starting fleet of 87, including six international entries from the United States, Great Britain, Italy and France.