Rolex Sydney Hobart - Wild Oats XI chances hanging in the wind

by Rob Mundle on 27 Dec 2011 The chance Bob Oatley’s supermaxi, Wild Oats XI, has of becoming the first yacht in the 67-year history of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race to win the line honours and handicap trophies on two occasions was literally hanging in the wind late today.

The 30-metre yacht has led the 88 race entrants from the start on Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day. However this evening she was being confronted by a 60-nautical mile wide windless ‘hole’ in the weather pattern as she exited Bass Strait and closed on the northeast coast of Tasmania.

This same vacuum in the offshore weather pattern could also see Wild Oats XI robbed of her sixth line honours in seven starts in the classic because, while she was slowing her arch rival, Investec Loyal, was closing the gap rapidly from behind. As well as sailing faster, Investec Loyal was sailing a course more to the east of Wild Oats XI’s trajectory, and if she continued at that speed it was inevitable that the 628 nautical mile race would ‘re-start’ overnight at the what was essentially the halfway mark.

Ian Burns, one of Wild Oats XI’s two navigators, said late today that the race was at a stage where it could go either way: ‘If Investec Loyal finds a private breeze during the night she could have a 30 mile lead by the morning, but if we are able to punch through this hole and they stop then we might be 50 miles ahead by sun-up.

‘The only thing I do know is that this is going to be a brutally tough night of sailing – not physically, but mentally.’

With it promising to be a sleepless night for the 20 crew most were resting late today so they could be on deck and ‘on their game’ when the wind died.

Earlier today the crew saw some consolation for the hard work they had put in since the start: Wild Oats XI was calculated to be leading the race on corrected time.

Wild Oats XI took the line and handicap double in the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, and with no yacht having ever achieved that feat twice since the race’s inception in 1945 the crew had even more to work for overnight. She also set the current race record time in 2005.

There was a brief moment of drama this afternoon when the yacht hit a sunfish and it became stuck on the keel. The crew immediately leapt into action and executed a ‘back-down’ to free the maritime monster. They eased the sails and steered the bow into the direction of the wind until the yacht stopped and started to move backwards. Fortunately, that quick action, which was enough to remove their unwanted visitor, cost them only a few minutes in time.

Currently there is a 12-hour window when it comes to an expected time of arrival for the first yacht – between 8pm tomorrow and 8am Thursday. The finish time will depend on the wind pattern the leaders experience overnight and throughout tomorrow.