Another SOLAS Big Boat Sydney-Hobart Warm-up won by Wild Oats XI!

My favorite monohull ocean racer is at it again: Pressure Drop - Feeling Their Oats and Winning Ways http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/content.php?8832-Feeling-Their-Oats-and-Winning-Ways
Hope she can go on to win the Sydney-Hobart again!!
Great video:


Excerpt:
Despite smart crew work from last year's Line Honours winner Peter Harburg’s Black Jack, it was only a matter of moments before the Oatley Family’s Wild Oats XI exerted her authority to take Line Honours in the 2018 Grinders Coffee SOLAS Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour today.

Although the breeze was light-on for the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) annual Harbour stoush, the precursor to the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the racing between these two super maxis was anything but.

"We were lucky enough to get a great start and that put us in a position to take advantage of the course," said Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards.

"It's always tough racing against Black Jack in lighter air and they certainly kept us on our toes. All crews did a great job on all boats out there today and we are very happy with the Line Honours [Grinders Coffee SOLAS Big Boat Challenge] win."

 

Yeah, but wasn't Comanche or one of the other big contenders not in the race ?

 

Right (37:24 to 38:11), and it's not a smart move of them not to practice in a real race . .

 

Nah, they don't need to. They have had a full and successful racing program over the last 6 months, so no need to advertise their strengths.

Why let the opposition tune up against them.

 

Well, the final race will tell . .

 

Let the Wild Oats & Comanche pre-race hype begin. Aside from these two boats, there is a good fleet of 100ft competitors so we should be seeing some nice competition from the big girls. In alphabetical order the Super Maxi fleet:

Black Jack - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2018 http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/the-yachts/2018/black-jack/
Comanche - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2018 http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/the-yachts/2018/comanche/
Infotrack - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2018 http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/the-yachts/2018/infotrack/
Scallywag - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2018 http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/the-yachts/2018/scallywag/
Wild Oats XI - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2018 http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/the-yachts/2018/wild-oats-xi/

There are other interesting divisions to track as well. One of my favs is the cruising division LOL. And why not!?

Tracker - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2018 http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker/

 

Doug started a new thread, just read there that Jim Cooney knocked his expensive ace helmsman Jimmy Spithill out of the race by preparing instead of racing . .

P.S. - I've always thought the best preparation is practicing the real thing whenever there's a chance to do so . .

 

I have no idea what you are saying. "Preparing instead of Racing" ???? Racing IS Preparing, and I told you that they have been racing/campaigning heavily for at least 6 months.

 

There's a very, very long list of people who train instead of doing all the racing they can do. Many members of the successful Australian Olympic team, for example, miss many races. And Comanche isn't well suited to harbour sailing, which requires different optimisation and design.

Years ago I was on the favourite for Hobart line honours when it came up against its main rival for the first time, in a similar short inshore race. No one seemed to learn much.