US yacht Comanche 1st out of harbor in Sydney to Hobart race

Despite risky seas and serious damage, Comanche, a super maxi built by Hodgdon Yachts in East Boothbay, finished first in the prestigious Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2015 on Monday.

American super-yacht Comanche was leading the fleet in Australia’s Sydney to Hobart on Saturday, after bolting out of the harbour at the start of the gruelling 628-nautical-mile (1,163 kilometre) race.

The 100-footer was the first to cross the finish line after one of the roughest races in recent years, with more than 30 boats retiring after bad weather struck on Saturday night.

The race hasn’t had an global victor since Swedish yacht Assa Abloy in 2001, but John Cameron, commodore of the host Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, likes Rambler 88’s chances.

KRISTY HINZE-CLARK: There was a bunch of emotions that went on – pure terror, at one stage, excitement, now just total joy and fulfilment.

“We came here to finish, one way or another we’ll finish this damn race”, he said.

Race favourite and eight-time Sydney to Hobart victor Wild Oats XI is out of the 2015 race after a southerly front with gusts of up to 40 knots hit the fleet last night.

While yacht enthusiasts were closely following the race and U.S. supporters were cheering for Team Comanche, a racist tweet by the organisers that was later deleted caused the public to express discontent, reports The Guardian.

It would be a sweet success for Comanche, who led the field early a year ago but were ultimately run down by Wild Oats XI, who secured a record-breaking eighth win.

Sure, the former Australian supermodel from Queensland is a co-owner of the 100-footer with her billionaire American husband, Netscape founder Jim Clark who did not sail due to arthritis.

Despite enduring rudder damage the American yacht sailed into first place with a time of two days, eight hours, 58 minutes and 30 seconds.

“That is a hard, hard body of water”, Read said after arriving at the finish line, recounting his decision to continue the race despite damage to a daggerboard and a rudder.

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

Comanche during the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

“The first thing was we had to get rid of the daggerboard”, Read recalls, “It was attached by a bunch of ropes and you could hear it failing around under the boat”.

“It was like hitting a wall of water; hitting you in the face, sea water, rain water, you couldn’t tell”, Brindabella crew member Julia Cooney told The Australian.

By comparison, when it won line honors at this year’s Transatlantic Race from Newport, Rhode Island to England, Comanche set a new 24-hour sailing record for a monohull of 618.01 nm.

The two US boats were ahead of Australia’s Ragamuffin 100 and Italy’s Maserati.