Wild Oats News

The 16 burly crew of Australian supermaxi yacht, Wild Oats XI, resorted to hula dancing on the dock today in San Pedro today in the hope they could motivate the weather Gods into delivering winds stronger than forecast for the Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii, which starts tomorrow. Unfortunately though, if the Gods judged the hula effort on technique, there’s little chance that Australia’s most successful ocean racing yacht will get the wind she needs to come close to finishing inside the monohull race record. That time of 5 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes, 20 seconds, was set by New Zealand’s Neville Crichton in 2009, sailing Alfa Romeo II. The hula came at the end of a traditional…

  Record breaking Australian supermaxi yacht, Wild Oats XI, will be hunting for a hurricane and dodging debris after she starts in the 2225 nautical mile Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii on Saturday. The sleek, 100ft long sloop, which is entered in the classic on a joint charter arrangement between famous Californian yachtsman, Roy P. Disney, and the yacht’s Australian owner, Bob Oatley AO, is out to score the fastest time for the race, and hopefully break the course record mark of 5 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes, 20 seconds, set in 2009. On the current weather forecast, issued 72 hours before the start, it’s a task that’s not impossible to achieve. The key to success lies with…