Wild Oats XI wins record eighth Sydney to Hobart honours

Supermaxi Wild Oats XI won its eighth line honours in the Sydney to Hobart race Dec. 28, officials said, to become the most successful yacht in the history of the competition.
      
The Mark Richards-skippered 100-footer crossed the finish line ahead of American newcomer Comanche in the gruelling 628 nautical mile (1,163 kilometre) race down the east coast of southern Australia, organisers the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia said.
      
The nine-year-old yacht crossed the line after two days, two hours, three minutes and 26 seconds at 3.03pm (0403 GMT), while Comanche finished in two days, two hours, 52 minutes and 44 seconds.
      
"It was our toughest race. To have a boat (Comanche) so close is always difficult, especially when they are going faster than you," Richards told reporters in Hobart after the yacht crossed the line at Battery Point.
      
"We managed to pull it off and I just said to the guys, we have just got to hang in there, hang tough, minimise the losses and wait for the first opportunity we could to attack and we did and it paid off."       
Wild Oats XI, one of five supermaxis -- the biggest and fastest yachts -- in this year's race was also first across the line every year from 2005 to 2008 and in 2010, 2012 and 2013.
      
It surpassed the record of Morna/Kurrewa IV, which won seven line honours titles in the 1950s and in 1960.
      
But choppy seas during the race meant the leaders were unable to challenge the race record set by Wild Oats XI in 2012 of one day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds.
      
The brand-new, cutting-edge Comanche, owned by American technology entrepreneur Jim Clark, had a stellar start when it flew out of Sydney Harbour at the start on Friday,...