Wild Oats leads in hat-trick bid

SYDNEY, Australia -- Two-time defending champion Wild Oats X1 led the 82-yacht fleet out of Sydney harbor on Wednesday at the start of the Sydney to Hobart race.

Wild Oats, trying to match Morna (1946, '47 and '48) as a three-time winner, went through Sydney Heads and into the Tasman Sea first ahead of two other maxis, British entry City Index Leopard and Australian yacht Skandia, the 2003 line honors winner.

Late Wednesday, Wild Oats led by eight nautical miles over Skandia, with City Index Leopard closely behind in third. American yacht Rosebud was fourth, 22 nautical miles behind the leader.

"We will have a great race with them," said Wild Oats navigator Ian Burns as his yacht sailed down the New South Wales state coast in a northeast breeze.The wind was expected to intensify later Wednesday.

Wild Oats holds the record for the 628-nautical mile (723-mile) race down the southeast coast of Australia and across Bass Strait to the island state of Tasmania.

Wild Oats wiped more than an hour off the previous record to win the race in 1 day, 18 hours, 40 minutes, 10 seconds for the first time in 2005. Nokia set the previous mark in 1999 of 1 day, 19 hours, 48 minutes, 2 seconds.

Last year, Wild Oats wasn't quite as quick due to unfavorable conditions, finishing in 2 days, 8 hours, 52 minutes, 22 seconds.

That made the super maxi just the sixth boat to record consecutive victories, and the first since Astor in 1963-64.

Weather forecasts suggested a race record was not likely this year due to light southerlies expected on the second day Thursday.

Last year's race was hit by bad weather -- eight sailors had to abandon a sinking vessel and three others were airlifted to hospital because of injuries. In 1998, six sailors were killed and seven boats sunk when a violent storm hit the race. E-mail to a friend

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