Sydney Hobart - Shark won line honours for Wild Oats XI

1:08 AM Sun 28 Dec 2008 GMT
The start of the 64th Rolex Sydney Hobart was not a good one for Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI. While she made the right tactical decisions off the start line, she was sailing like a dog.

As Skipper Mark Richards explained dockside in Hobart this morning 'once we were out of the heads we realised she was sailing like a dog. There was vibration and she was just down speed. We looked and looked through the endoscopes at rudder and keel but we could not see anything.

'We were just off the pace and at the same time the Skandia guys were sailing very well, make good tactical decisions.

''The boys rallied, we worked very hard, it was very tough race, we probably did 100 sail changes and somehow we managed to stay in contact with Skandia.

'When we hit the shark, probably about 8 footer, around 4pm yesterday, we had no choice but to do a complete back up.

'When we cleared the shark away, we think we must have cleared whatever else it was, a rope or a bag on the rear rudder.

'As soon as get started sailing again, we realised we had the old Wild Oats XI back again, we have another knot or two and within an hour we were through Skandia and stretching away from her.

'To win the fourth race in a row is an awesome feeling, we don't care so much about the record, and we own that anyway.'

More soon.

by Rob Kothe

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