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A shaky victory: Wild Oats XI was the first to finish the Rolex Sydney Hobart regatta

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Hundreds of fans roared as the victory siren sounded and Wild Oats XI crossed the finish line first at the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in Hobart.

Fans had at least two things to cheer about: in addition to leading the race, the team broke the regatta record by almost 5 hours. But the question of her victory is still open, the crew has to answer to an international jury for the incident at yesterday's start.

Wild Oats XI had fierce rivalry with Comanche from the opening minutes of the race. They almost collided on the Sydney Harbour exit.

Jim Cooney's crew led most of the race but this morning the red and white had to hold on, despite suffering a damaged fore-sail and having to share the mainsail and exchange torn gear.

The situation changed again when the two 100-foot super-maxies reached the Derwent River. In excruciatingly weak winds of no more than 8 knots, they went bow to bow, taking turns ahead of each other. In the end, Wild Oats XI took the lead and increased her lead to cross the finish line first. Comanche finished the race in 26 minutes.

The 628-mile race took them only 1 day, 8 hours 48 minutes and 50 seconds.

The team just smashed the previous record of 1 day 13 hours 31 minutes and 20 seconds set last year by Perpetual Loyal.

The triumphant moment is marred by a protest filed yesterday by Comanche. In the morning, an international jury will rule on whether the Wild Oats XI crew violated the race rules and, if so, what penalty awaits them for doing so.

Since yesterday's start one boat has left the race due to a broken rudder - this time unlucky for the Germans on Rockall. In addition, Opt2Go Scamp rolled up at the Eden docks to repair an undisclosed breakdown and with the intention of getting back into action. And the Jazz Player team was disqualified as race safety rules prohibit rounding the Green Cape without a working HF radio.

Weddell boat of our compatriot Afanasiy Isayev is now in the first third of the fleet.

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