Will Wild Oats XI Make It Four in a Row?

This year's Sydney Hobart Yacht Race may see an unprecedented event as super maxi Wild Oats XI, line honors winner for the past three years, attempts to make it four in a row.

Already, Wild Oats XI has set at least two race records, winning the treble in 2005 and winning line honors in 2007 for the third consecutive year.

Some rather stiff competition is expected from the other super maxi in this year's event, Skandia, which last year had a sailing mishap and limped into Hobart in 10th position.

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race begins on Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, December 26, on a perilous sea journey to Hobart in Tasmania.

Photo: Wild Oats XI crosses the Hobart finish line in the 2007 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi