Yachting: Wild Oats' early blow

Record-seeking yacht Wild Oats XI, bidding for a record fifth straight win in the Sydney to Hobart race, took a blow it had never before suffered yesterday - it lost the start.

Even then, it did better than rival maxi Etihad Stadium (formerly Skandia), which lost the race before it had really started.

To make matters worse, after losing the start to Alfa Romeo, Wild Oats was then pounced on by ICAP Leonard in the opening salvos of the race.

Firm favourite for the race, Wild Oats had never before been beaten in the sprint from the starting line to the exit from Sydney Harbour. New Zealand's Alfa Romeo, the 2002 winner skippered by Neville Crichton, pipped her. Wild Oats had got the early jump on Alfa Romeo, which suffered a twist in her spinnaker in the first 30 seconds. Wild Oats then had sail issues of her own a few minutes later, which helped Alfa Romeo sweep past her to the front. Britain's ICAP Leopard was third through the Heads as the boats set off in southerly breezes of 12 to 15 knots.

Leopard, a much heavier maxi and thus needing stronger conditions to have a chance of taking the race, then surged to the front in the fresh breezes of a wet Sydney Boxing Day. But last night, Alfa Romeo was leading the race ahead of Wild Oats and Leopard although only 1.3 nautical miles separated the three. The race, however, has yet to take firm shape and most are predicting that unpredictable weather will play the biggest role.

But if the leading three got away with little or no trouble, it most certainly did not go according to plan for luckless fellow maxi Etihad Stadium.

All week in the build-up to the ocean yachting classic the story had been whether the 98-footer from Victoria would have a replacement mast fitted in time to take her place in the 100-strong fleet on Sydney Harbour. Late nights, hundreds of thousands of dollars and the generosity of rivals brought a positive result when skipper Grant Wharington announced with relief yesterday morning the maxi would start.

Several hours later, all that optimism counted for nought as Etihad Stadium was gently cruising back towards Darling Harbour, a problem with the rigging in the new mast forcing Wharington to retire the boat before it had even left the harbour.

A downcast Wharington said the retirement had been a "disappointment" for everyone involved in getting the boat ready for the race."For my team more than anything," he said. "We've had probably 50 people for the last two weeks, with an enormous input from every single person."

While the yacht formerly known as Wild Thing limped home, the rest of the field had started their 628-nautical mile journey under full spinnakers and grey skies.

A 12-15 knot southerly wind guided the fleet out of harbour, but not without incident; last year's overall winner Quest undertook a self-imposed 720-degree penalty after colliding with Lion New Zealand at the first rounding mark and then She's the Culprit became the race's second retiree after sustaining damage at the same point.

The first yachts are expected to arrive in Hobart late tomorrow morning.

- AAP