Reigning Sydney to Hobart line honours champion back to best after hasty repairs

Wild Oats skipper Mark Richards says his supermaxi is fighting fit after 11th hour repairs.

A GRUELLING 24-hour test has Wild Oats skipper Mark Richards “100 per cent” confident his repaired supermaxi can win a record 10th line honours crown in the 75th Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race next week.

The champion 100-footer was damaged in a race early last month and a global effort was launched to source parts and finalise repairs in time for this year’s race, which gets underway at 1pm on Boxing Day.

Wild Oats XI sails up the River Derwent on her way to a ninth Sydney to Hobart line honours victory in 2018. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Richards and his crew took Wild Oats on a sea trial on Monday and Tuesday to test drive the repairs and also qualify the yacht for the race.

WILD OATS XI’S PREPARATIONS THROWN INTO CHAOS

The nine-time line honours champion is one of five supermaxis in the milestone event, and starts thirdfavourite with the bookies ($3.35) behind race record holder Comanche ($2.75) and Black Jack ($3).

“We’ve finished our qualifier yesterday and we spent 24 hours at sea in a lot of breeze and the boat performed very well so we are 100 per cent back on track,” Richards said.

The 24-hour run was necessary to qualify for entry into the 628-nautical mile blue water classic.

WILD OATS XI SURVIVES LINE HONOURS PROTEST

“You have to do a long race or 24-hour qualifier for the Hobart during the year and we hadn’t done anything with the boat this year because of the modifications we’ve been doing it has been in the shed,” Richards said.

“We did our qualifier, which is great, and we are really happy with the repairs.

“The boat had a weakness, which we found, so we’ve been able to make it a lot stronger and we are going to be able to benefit from that.”

Skipper Mark Richards celebrates Wild Oats XI’s 2018 line honours victory. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Richards praised his team for the swift repairs after Wild Oats’ mast and rigging were damaged in the Cabbage Tree island race.

“It was a really impressive effort,” he said.

“McConaghy Boats, who built the boat, did an amazing job getting it back together.

“Southern Spars came over from New Zealand and fixed the damaged section and we had rigging come from Spain.

“It was a very detailed repair but it was amazing how we all pulled it together in three and a half weeks.”

The latest withdrawals of Conquest, Hummingbird, Sailing Poland and Samurai Jack reduced the original entry list of 170 yachts to 157.