The crew of Australian super-maxi Wild Oats XI retained their ninth Sydney to Hobart yacht race line honours victory after a protest lodged by the independent race committee was deemed invalid, local media reported.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Mark Richards-skippered yacht clinched line honours early on Friday, about 28 minutes ahead of fellow super-maxi Black Jack, whose owner claimed Wild Oats XI had not activated their Automatic Identification System (AIS) during the race.
The rules require the AIS transponder to be activated throughout the race as a safety measure.
The race committee, which is independent of the organisers the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), lodged the protest after they conducted an investigation and concluded that Wild Oats XI may have breached the rules.
Australia's state broadcaster the ABC, however, reported the protest had been judged invalid because it had needed to be lodged by a competitor.
After arriving in Hobart, Black Jack skipper Peter Harburg said Wild Oats XI's AIS was not on, meaning they couldn't detect where the opposition boat was sailing.
"We didn't know where they were and they knew where we were all the time, so that has disadvantaged us," he told the ABC.
However, Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards told the ABC earlier today that the AIS system was operational and it indicated it was transmitting the yacht's position throughout the race.
It is the second successive year that Wild Oats XI's line honours victory had been thrown into doubt.
Last year, they stormed across the line in a race record, only to incur a one-hour penalty following a near-collision with Comanche about 15 minutes after the start of the 630-nautical mile (1,170 kilometre) race.
Comanche were then awarded line honours in a race record time of one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds, with Wild Oats XI relegated to second.
- Reuters/AAP