Wild Oats XI leads the fleet outside Sydney Heads. Picture: Brett Costello. Source: News Limited
THE former winner of the Sydney to Hobart, the Adelaide yacht Secret Men's Business, has hit a sunfish at high-speed and damaged her rudder in Bass Strait.
Crewman Steve Kemp said everyone aboard the 2010 Sydney to Hobart overall winner owned and skippered by Geoff Boettcher is safe and well and the yacht is racing on.
The news of the collision came just after Living Doll advised she had broken her rudder and was returning from the race.
It is now understood a police launch is on its way to meet up with the Victorian yacht which has advised race officials she is managing well on her own.
While Living Doll is out, Kemp said he and his crewmates plan to sail on.
"Everyone is safe,'' he said. "We hit a sunfish and broke the bottom third of our rudder off.
"We were surfing in 20 knots and I heard this bang. It scared the hell out of me.
"We were concerned initially but have checked everything over thoroughly.'''
Despite a tough start to the race no yacht had retired until more than a day into the race.
The timing of a weather front and the final 11 nautical mile stretch of the Sydney to Hobart race could decide whether Wild XI claims her second race record or Ragamuffin Loyal her first sometime tomorrow.
Both remain on course to smash the 2005 mark set by Wild Oats by finishing before 7.40.09am Friday.
Weather expert Roger Badham indicated just before 5pm that he believed the winner could set a new race record this year.
And it is Wild Oats who is in pole position to achieve the feat after racing to a 30 nautical mile lead over her rival in a wet and wild ride across Bass Strait.
Tactician Iain Murray said the crew was in good spirits but still cautious with just under 200 nautical miles of the 628nm race to sail at 5pm.
"You have to be cautious on this boat,” Murray said.
"Things can go bad very quickly.''
Wild Oats has lead from the start of the race with Ragamuffin Loyal shadowing her the entire way down the NSW coast, across Bass Strait and then down the east coast of Tasmania.
Wild Oats set the record of one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds in 2005 when she not only took line honours but also won the overall handicap crown.
If the Sydney supermaxi achieves her goal it will be her sixth line honours win from eight attempts on the annual race south.
It will also come after the yacht underwent major modifications to increase her light wind speed in the wake of her loss to Investec Loyal last year.
But she must still navigate her way through a second lot of headwinds and then the notoriously fickle winds of the Derwent River to do it.
The Queensland yacht Black Jack continues to look a major chance of claiming the overall honours in the 68th edition of the race.
3pm: THE champion Australian supermaxi Wild Oats is this afternoon on course to break her own race record in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart but the weather tonight and early tomorrow will still determine her fate.
The Mark Richards skippered 100-footer was screaming across Bass Strait at high-speed with Syd Fischer and his team on Ragamuffin Loyal in hot pursuit.
Both yachts have reported suffering minor damage overnight but it has not affected their speed across one of the most notorious stretches of water in the world which for one is producing pleasant sailing.
Ragamuffin Loyal has hit speeds of 25 knots as she chases Wild Oats across Bass Strait with both yachts ahead of the record set by Wild Oats in 2005 of one day 18 hours 40 minutes and 10 seconds.
The 85-year-old skipper of Ragamuffin Loyal - Syd Fischer - was "cracking the whip" from the deck of the yacht as it shadowed Wild Oats according to one of his crewman while former skiff sailor David Witt was driving the ocean mauler towards Hobart.
After 23 hours of sailing not a single yacht in the starting fleet of 66 had retired, an unusual statistic for the tough ocean race.
Brindabella owner Jim Clooney said he and his crew were "having a ball'' on the second day of the race.
"It is just glorious out here,'' Clooney said in a call off his former line honours winner.
"Last night was pretty lumpy and bumpy but now it's all good.''
Clooney said he and his crew are surrounded by rivals.
"We are in good company,'' he said, noting Ichi Ban, Calm and Jazz were all within sight,
Meanwhile, former skiff sailor David Witt is at the helm of the 100-footer with Ragamuffin Loyal clocking her fastest speed of the race, now just 18 nautical miles behind Wild Oats in the Sydney to Hobart.
"We are in a 22 knot nor'easterly doing 20 knots of speed " said crewman Andrew Crowe.
Ragamuffin Loyal and Wild Oats emerged unscathed from their first night at sea and are now racing across Bass Strait at a cracking pace.
At first light the Mark Richards skippered Wild Oats XI was leading the fleet in the 68th edition of the race - as she has done since the very start of the event.
Not a single yacht in the starting fleet of 66 had retired overnight, an unusual statistic for the tough ocean race.
The pace of both yachts has lifted and will continue to rise after early headwinds were replaced by fast running conditions.
By later this morning the fleet is expected to be on or near record pace with a day of high speed sailing ahead of them.
Trailing the leaders after an uneventful night was the 98-footer Lahana, the 66-Footer Black Jack, the 70-footer Ichi Ban and the 63-footer Loki.
Bringing up the rear was the 30-footer Maluka, the minnow if the fleet.
The yachts need to make it to Hobart just after 7.49am tomorrow to better the race record.
This task looks difficult but not impossible with Wild Oats setting the one day record of 18 hours 40 min 10sec back in 2005.
"It (the race record) is certainly something to go for,'' Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards told Channel Nine.
"We're just going to go faster and faster as the day goes on today.
"It's going to be a great ride. It all depends on what happens with the southerly front at the other end.''
While the northerlies were expected to keep pushing the leaders for much of the day, Wild Oats navigator Adrienne Cahalan already had one eye on the forecast change expected either late today or early on Friday.
"We're just looking at our options ... how we're going to approach Tasmania and when and if we maybe take a couple of gybes,'' Cahalan said.
"The next big feature for us aside from the northerlies is the approaching front.''
It wasn't a totally worry-free night for Richards and his crew.
"It was a pretty challenging night for the guys. We had a lot of sail changes, a lot of different conditions,'' Richards said.
"We did a bit of damage to one of our centreboards last night. We hit a log, I think, at fairly high speed and did a bit of damage there, but we've got that under control.''
UPDATE: Both Wild Oats and Ragamuffin Loyal have this morning reported suffering minor damage.
Wild Oats hit an unidentified object, which caused superficial damage to her daggerboard while her rivals has had some minor equipment issues.
Neither yacht's speed in Bass Strait has been adversely affected.
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