Sailing: Kiwi father-son trio take out second place in Sydney-Hobart

Supermaxi Perpetual Loyal has taken line honours in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race with a winning time almost five hours faster than the previous record.

Skippered by Anthony Bell, Perpetual Loyal crossed the finish line around 2:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday to complete the 630 nautical mile race in 1 day, 13 hours, 31 minutes, 20 seconds.

That shattered the race record, set in 2012 by rival supermaxi Wild Oats XI, by 4:51:52.

A New Zealand father-and-sons trio took out second place, finishing almost two hours behind winner Perpetual LOYAL, but still well ahead of the previous race record.

Owner and skipper Jim Delegat praised his sons Nikolas, 19, and James, 18, who were among the crew of 14.

"This type of yachting is a boyhood dream come true," Jim said after pulling into Hobart's Constitution Dock.

"(James is) quite an experienced sailor for his age and he's fearless. They're very fearless and talented young men."

The senior Delegat, who's found success in the global wine industry, said reading the weather when setting off from Sydney proved instrumental in the race result.

"The key really is we picked a good plan, a good strategy, we really thought about the weather and we looked at where we had to be in the first 18 hours," the skipper said.

"We figured that the first 18 to 20 hours was going to win the race for us and we went out far, a little wider and that enabled us to take a couple of jibes later on at the top of Tasmania.

"The weather is really what it was about."

Despite coming within eight nautical miles of LOYAL, Jim said they were always out of reach.

"It was good to know we were in the play but I didn't ever think we'd overhaul them."

The boat finished in one day, 15 hours, 27 minutes and five seconds, just a couple of minutes ahead of third-placed Hong Kong supermaxi Scallywag.

Fellow NZ boat Beau Geste remains in a tight tussle for fourth in line honours with NSW entry Maserati.

Listen:D'Arcy Waldegrave and PJ Montgomery talk to Tony Mutter who was aboard Perpetual Loyal

Perpetual Loyal inherited a comfortable lead after the withdrawal of previously leading Wild Oats XI, making up for its misfortunes of the last two years when it had to quit the race. In 2015 it was forced out with rudder damage and, in 2014, it withdrew after striking a submerged object. This year it was able to take full advantage of favorable wind conditions which propelled the 88-boat fleet at a record pace.

"We got a good set of weather conditions," Bell said. "Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck and we've certainly had our fair share of bad luck, so I was entitled to ask the forecasters for that."

Bell said he was immediately aware of the misfortune that struck Wild Oats XI and handed Perpetual Loyal the race lead. The failure of a hydraulic ram affected the movement of the yacht's keel and forced it to pull out of the race and make for the port of Eden in Victoria.

Wild Oats arrived safely in the port late Tuesday night.

"We saw the boat tilt right over, we saw them come to a sudden stop," Bell said. "Our first worry was that it might have lost a crew member overboard.

"We radioed them and said, 'Hey if you're in trouble we're prepared to stop the race and go over and help the guys' but the fortunate thing is no one got hurt."

The battle for second place remained a tight one between the New Zealand 70-footer Giacomo and the Hong Kong-based supermaxi Scallywag. They were about 1 nautical mile apart on the Derwent River which leads to the finish line.

- AP and AAP