IT'S six of the best for Wild Oats XI after the supermaxi took line honours in a new race record in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart this morning.
Rated one of the world's fastest supermaxis, Wild Oats crossed the finish line at 7.23am to claim its sixth line honours title and second race record since 2005.
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It beat its own race record by almost 17 minutes, clocking 1 day 18 hours 23 minutes 12 seconds for the 628-nautical-mile journey.
Last year's line honours champion Ragamuffin Loyal, skippered by race legend Syd Fischer, finished second, crossing the line at 12.08pm.
The next yacht is Lahana, due in at 9.30 tonight.
Wild Oats appeared to have the race record in the bag as the clock ticked past midnight yesterday -- at that time on track to beat it by hours.But then Mother Nature had her say. As the wind died so did the 100-footer's chances of the record.
She bobbed about in the waters off Tasman Island in the early hours of the morning, going nowhere fast.
"It was very frustrating but the boys dealt with it well and we didn't stop at all, we kept the boat moving," skipper Mark Richards said.
When the breeze returned, Wild Oats took off. When it carved its way past the Iron Pot just after sunrise, Richards knew the record run was back on.
"When we got to the Iron Pot we thought: 'The record's on here'. So we've got to really work," he said.
With the finish line in sight as Wild Oats slipped by the Garrow Light off Sandy Bay, the water became glassy and again Oats slowed to a crawl -- the record again in doubt.
"You do start thinking about the clock ticking away, but we did the right thing, got our heads out of the boat and started looking for the breeze," Richards said.
"We had the right sail up and that got us home."
Wild Oats' run was almost flawless, with the exception of a slightly damaged centreboard after hitting a submerged log on the first night and blowing out its big spinnaker yesterday.
"It was a great ride," Richards said.
"It was a shame we blew out a our big spinnaker because we were absolutely smoking and putting a lot of miles onto Ragamuffin Loyal.
"The weather has changed in our favour now and there's a pretty good chance we could win the race on handicap, so it's pretty exciting."
As it stands, Wild Oats tops the handicap leader board. Jazz, Calm, Quest, Loki and Shogun are also in the hunt.
The first Tasmanian yacht due home is Cougar II, expected late tomorrow.
Of the starting fleet of 76, three yachts have retired.
The last boat in the fleet, Maluka of Kermandie, has a scheduled time of arrival of 10.30pm on New Year's Eve.
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