If you’ve been consumed with holiday festivities lately, you may not have followed the action in the 70th edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Here’s a brief recap: 

Although the race, which began December 26, had 117 starters, all eyes were on just two boats: Australian Bob Oatley’s perennial line honors contender Wild Oats XI, an Aussie-built Reichel Pugh 100 now modified with a hydrofoil wing, and the brand new VPLP-designed 100-ft supermaxi Comanche, built in the US at Hodgdon Yachts for Netscape founder Jim Clark and his wife Kristy Hinze Clark. The matchup of these two 100-footers was arguably the most highly anticipated boat-on-boat battle since America’s Cup 34. In hot and sunny breeze-on conditions, both boats nailed the start — with Comanche skippered by Ken Read and Wild Oats helmed by Mark Richards — and quickly left the rest of the fleet in their wake. Notably, Stan Honey was navigator aboard Comanche, while Iain Murray (of AC 34 and 35) reportedly served as strategist aboard Wild Oats. 

The highly touted title fight between the two supermaxis took little time to materialize, with the newer and significantly wider Comanche unfurling a massive gennaker and leaning on all of her form stability to extend to an early lead over WO XI on their way out of the Sydney Heads.

Once out into the ocean, both boats continued their private match race ahead of the fleet as they bashed their way south in strong conditions and confused seas caused by the south-setting East Australia Current opposing 25-30 knots of southwesterly breeze. As the breeze gradually dropped off ahead of a ridge of high pressure, the skinnier, lighter WO XI was able to ghost along while the heavier, beamier Comanche hobby-horsed in the leftover seas, sailing at roughly half the boat speed of her rival. Comanche’s small lead turned into more than a 40-mile deficit in the blink of an eye as her slippery Australian rival performed a vanishing act once it sailed out of the Bass Strait hole and into better pressure.

As the ridge moved east and northerly tailwinds built across the region, both boats lit the afterburners and began routinely clocking sustained speeds in the mid-20s. Comanche clawed back most of the miles she had lost, closing the gap to just 10 miles, but there simply wasn’t enough race track left to complete the comeback.

In the end, Wild Oats XI finished the race in 2d 2h 3m, just 8 hours off record pace, to claim her historic eighth line honors victory and secure her place in the record books as the most successful yacht in the 70-year history of the race. For Comanche, it was an impressive debut for a racing yacht that was built to smash records around the world. Overall corrected time honors went to Roger Hickman’s nearly 30-year-old Farr 43 Wild Rose, which was the original Wild Oats and also claimed the overall win in 1993.

The race’s only other West Coast entry, Manouch Moshayedi’s Rio100, put in an impressive performance to finish fourth on line honors ahead of her US debut in this year’s Transpac race. A team of 20+ recently completed a nine-month, seven-days-a week refit  on this former 98-footer at Cookson’s in New Zealand. Modifications included a lifting keel, longer bowsprit, twin rudders and reconfigured steering positions. See complete results and info here.