Wild Oats, owned by Bob Oatley was 20 miles north of Seal Rocks at 10.30pm Thursday 2nd January. Speaking at 10:30pm from the deck of Wild Oats, tactician Iain Murray said “We have 110 miles to sail and we are moving at 13 knots. The wind is at 16 knots and is coming from the south-east. There is very little opposing current. Our lead over Travelex is now about 4 miles.

Dubbed the “Wolf in sheep’s clothing” after her successful racing debut in the Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island earlier this year, Wild Oats continues to astound with her performance against modern maxi yachts. Her revolutionary design and construction includes a canting keel.

When asked whether he expected the 60-foot Wild Oats to be out-performing the 83-footer Travelex, Murray commented “We are a little surprised. The only time Travelex had an edge on us was when we were two-sail reaching from the start line to Terrigal. Ever since then, we have been sailing with the code- zero sail or the spinnaker and we have been slipping away from Travelex.

Wild Oats helmsman, Mark Richards said, “We had a gut feeling we were going to be pretty slippery if the conditions were right”. Commenting on the mood on-board Wild Oats, Richards said “The boys are in great spirits. There are only four of us on deck. It’s been easy sailing”.

At 10:00pm Craig Malouf, sailing on Ludde Ingvall’s Travelex, also reported very pleasant sailing conditions, “All the crew are doing very well although some of the guys are a little tired from all the grinding we have been doing with the big masthead gennaker up”.

The latest forecast calls for up to 20 knot winds for the entire fleet’s passage into Coffs Harbour. The excitement level in the Coffs Harbour community is high, as film star and local identity Russell Crowe is one of the crew members aboard Travelex, which is currently due into Coffs at around 8:00am.

Source: Andrew Palfrey and Nicole Amos – Coffs Harbour Media and Publicity