HOBART: Seven-time champion Wild Oats XI edged ahead of American super maxi Comanche on the second day of the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race, with Comanche skipper Ken Read calling it a “very frustrating day”.

Comanche, which was launched in October and is being tested in race conditions for the first time, led defending champion Wild Oats XI for much of the race since its start on Friday in Sydney Harbour.

But by late afternoon on Saturday, Wild Oats opened up a 30-nautical-mile lead over the American boat, with both yachts completing nearly half of the 628-nautical-mile race to Hobart, the capital of the island state of Tasmania.

“We’ve had better days, that’s for sure,” Read said. “It’s been increasingly frustrating. There are troughs that moved over top of us and sucked us all in instead of moving us ahead. But the boat has been spectacular.”

The leading yachts were looking to finish the race late Sunday, well outside the race record of 1 day, 18 hours, 23 minutes, 12 seconds that Wild Oats XI set in 2012.

Ragamuffin, another super maxi and skippered by 87-year-old Syd Fischer, was in third place, followed by another American entry, super maxi Rio 100.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2014