Supermaxi Investec Loyal crossed the finish line in Hobart at 7.14pm, local time, January 28, winning this year's line honors in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Finishing three minutes behind Investec Loyal was Wild Oats XI, five-time Sydney Hobart line honors winner in seven years.
Investec Loyal completed the course in 2 days, 6 hours, 14 minutes, 18 seconds.
A protest against Investec Loyal's winning finish, lodged by the race committee which alleged a race rule breach concerning use of outside assistance, was dismissed.
On December 30, NSW yacht Loki, which crossed the finish line fourth on December 29 with an elapsed time of 02:14:20:38, was declared overall hadnicap winner on the corrected time of 03:22:34:32. In comparison, line honors winner Investec Loyal had the corrected time of 04:07:38:58.
Race start
Eighty-eight boats lined up on Boxing Day, December 26, Australian eastern daylight saving time, for the start of the 2011 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Australia's Bluewater Classic, at Sydney Harbour.
Favorite to win line honors this year was Wild Oats XI, already with five line honors wins in the past six years.
Within minutes of the start, Wild Oats was leading the race fleet out of Sydney Harbour.
First through Sydney Heads was Wild Oats followed by Investec Loyal and Wild Thing.
Wild Oats, owned by Bob Oatley and skippered by Mark Richards, and Investec Loyal, owned and skippered by Anthony Bell, are the two 100-footers in the race. Investec Loyal was second to Wild Oats in the 2010 Sydney Hobart.
Wild Thing, a 98-footer owned by Grant Wharington, won the Sydney Hobart line honors in 2003 as Skandia and was second to Wild Oats in 2008.
By 7pm, December 26, the three race leaders were holding on to their relative positions, with 98-footer Lahana, fourth; and 63-footer Loki, fifth.
Wild Thing withdraws
December 27 saw one of the race leaders, Wild Thing, drop out of the race, with Lahana gaining the third position, Hugo Boss fourth, and Loki fifth.
Retired from the race for one reason or another were Wild Thing, Accenture Yeah Baby and Celestial.
Celestial retired just before midnight of December 26 having suffered a broken gooseneck. The morning of December 27 brought news that Accenture Yeach Baby had retired due to unspecified gear failure.
In the early afternoon, Wild Thing, said to be in fourth position at the time, withdrew from the race having suffered sail damage.
New frontrunner, and then...
By early evening, Investec Loyal became the frontrunner, relegating Wild Oats to second place. The question was whether Investec Loyal could maintain this position with some 250 nautical miles yet to cover in the Bluewater Classic.
By early morning of December 28, Wild Oats had regained its leading position with less than 1 nautical mile between Wild Oats and Investec Loyal. By mid-aftrnoon, the positions were again reversed, and the lead was expected to continue seesawing between the two until race's end.
In the end, only three minutes separated the line honors winner and runner-up.
By then, 11 yachts had retired from the race for various reasons.
At 1.34am, December 29, Lahana crossed the finished line, the third boat to finish. Lahana, which previously raced as Zana (line honors runner-up in 2003) and Konica Minolta, was followed by Loki in fourth place, finishing at 3.20am.
The first four placers are all New South Wales boats, with fifth place taken by UK yacht Hugo Boss which crossed the finish line at 5.38am, December 29.
Handicap race
The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race covers 628 miles from Sydney Harbour to the finish line in Hobart at the Derwent River. It is organised by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia with the cooperation of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
The 2011 race is the 67th since it began in 1945 with nine starters. The fastest time recorded by the 1945 winner, Rani, was six days, 14 hours and 22 minutes.
The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is a handicap race but line honors — who crosses the finish line first — are fiercely contested.
- Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Danger and Death at Sea
- 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Tragedy at Sea
- 1999 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Nokia Breaks Record
- 2000 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Nicorette Takes Line Honors
- 2001 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Assa Abloy's Win
- 2002 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Alfa Romeo's Turn
- 2003 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Duel of the Super Maxis
- 2004 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Nicorette Wins Line Honors
- 2005 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Wild Oats XI Wins the Treble
- 2006 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Back-to-Back Win for Wild Oats XI
- 2007 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Wild Oats Makes It Three in a Row
- 2008 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Wild Oats Makes It Four in a Row
- 2009 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Alfa Romeo Breaks Wild Oats Winning Streak
- 2010 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Wild Oats XI in Fifth Line Honors Win
