American yachts lead Sydney-Hobart, defending champion out

Held together by three pieces of wire, damaged American supermaxi Comanche has won line honours in the 2015 Sydney to Hobart yacht race. She still has just under 50 nautical miles to complete.

Co-owner and former supermodel Kristy-Hinze Clark became the first female owner to take line honours in the blue water classic.

In the same announcement, race organisation said that Perpetual Loyal and St Jude had withdrawn, ensuring before midnight fell that the 71st edition of the race had experienced one of its most freakish first days with drama unfolding before the start.

Comanche, created to be the fastest monohull ever built, easily led the field early on but slipped behind Rambler 88 when it sustained damage in rough seas on Saturday evening.

Wislang, Nick Burridge, Warwick Fleury, Kelvin Harrap and Nick Mutter were the Kiwis on board Jim Clark’s boat skippered by Ken Read and whose crew included winning America’s Cup skipper Jimmy Spithill.

High winds and thunderstorms were forecast for later Saturday which could affect the trailing smaller yachts as they head down the New South Wales state south coast and into the often treacherous Bass Strait.

About 32 of the 108 yachts entered in the race had withdrawn by Monday, mostly because of damage.

After eight-time victor and defending champion Wild Oats XI pulled out with a torn mainsail on Saturday night and another Australian entry Perpetual Loyal also withdrew, line honours has opened up for the global raiders.

“I did say before that we had the four maxis and Rambler was going to be barking at their heels”.

“Last year we had a few issues with a few bits and pieces which weren’t repaired until Christmas Day”, skipper Mark Richards said.

Read praised his crew while celebrating with hundreds of spectators at the dock. Sure enough this boat did its thing and got us out of trouble.

Another vessel – Comanche – radioed into the race officials at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia that she had suffered damage to a daggerboard and rudder and would have to retire.

“We have no idea what we hit, we couldn’t see it”, the yacht’s navigator Andrew Cape said.

“It was a pretty solid hit … it knocked the boat and did quite a bit of damage to the board, so it’s not the best scenario”. It shook the boat.

After taking line honors in the Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race, Rambler finished second behind Comanche in the 2015 TransAtlantic Race and again in the Fastnet Race.

The crew braved 30-35 knot winds from the north which quickly shifted to 40 knots from the south causing a line breakage.

Ragamuffin 100 also received damage in the race, with its the port daggerboard completely sheared off.

Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI was hit by a squall which tore her mainsail in half.