Ready to race

The new-look Wild Oats XI – the most successful yacht in the 70 year history of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race – has been unveiled at a special breakfast event hosted by joint principal sponsor Audi Australia.

The iconic supermaxi owned by the Oatley family has undergone major modifications over the past several months in a bid to keep the 10-year-old yacht in peak condition and competitive against younger contenders looking to claim the 628 nautical mile ocean classic.

With a record eight line honours in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart race since being launched in 2005, it’s unlikely that any vessel could ever match her performance to date. She is the only yacht to have achieved four consecutive line honours wins and is also the only yacht to ever secure the triple crown – taking line and handicap honours as well as the race record – not just once but twice in that time.

But that success has done nothing to diminish the drive to continually improve and refine the yacht and even before finishing last year’s race, the discussion about what could be done to keep her competitive had already begun.

At this morning’s launch event, the results of what ultimately became major modifications were on show for the first time as the new look Wild Oats XI was revealed only three weeks out from the start of this year’s Rolex Sydney to Hobart.

Speaking at the event, Audi Australia Managing Director, Andrew Doyle said it was a prime example of Vorsprung durch Technik (advancement through technology), likening the ongoing development and refinement of Wild Oats XI to the constant process of improvement inherent in the Audi brand philosophy.

“Our brands are a perfect fit. We share the same passion for innovation and technological advancement, and the Audi brand is no stranger to endurance racing success with our extensive Le Mans heritage,” he said.

“Not willing to rest on their laurels, Bob and Sandy Oatley have made a considerable investment in new technology and a new design to give Wild Oats XI every chance at success in 2015 and beyond, building on her impressive legacy,” Mr Doyle said.

“Every year we’ve tried to make the boat a little bit better and a little bit faster,” said Sandy Oatley at the unveiling. “It’s part of Dad’s (Mr Bob Oatley) mantra and something he instills in us, to try and make the boat or anything we do a little bit better every year.”

“Having the competitor beside you also makes you try that bit harder,” Mr Oatley added. “The modifications we have made to Wild Oats XI will make her a faster yacht in all conditions.”

At an estimated cost of $2 million, the modifications are extensive, but according to Mr Oatley and skipper Mark Richards, had they opted to build a new boat from scratch, this is the result they would ultimately have been hoping for.

To achieve the desired result, 14 metres was cut from the bow of the boat and replaced by a completely new hull section, two metres longer than the original. This necessitated removing two metres from the stern to retain her overall length. A full ton of weight was removed from the bow and the weight distribution moved back to increase speed in a range of conditions. The bow sprit has been increased in length and indeed the shape of the bow has been redesigned to improve progress through the water.

Extensive work has also been done on the hull finish to provide a ‘fairness’ or smooth finish skipper Mark Richards says is better than it has ever been in the yacht’s history.

To achieve the perfect hull shape was an exhaustive process performed by some of the best yacht designers in the business. Designer Steve Quigley explained that the computer programs used in the process were created out of the space program – computational fluid dynamics programs that tested hundreds of computer models to arrive at the desired hull shape to provide the optimum performance across the range of conditions experienced in a Sydney to Hobart race.

Skipper Mark Richards couldn’t be happier with the result and the outstanding work done by all involved to get Wild Oats XI ready so quickly.

“Looking at this beautiful craft here, if you had this boat designed and built today, you’d be very excited by what you saw,” he enthused.

“I think to have that outcome from a 10-year-old boat, it just goes to show what her pedigree was 10 years ago.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen the Wild Oats XI team as excited in the 10 years we’ve been together … and I’m as excited as I’ve ever been in my whole life to race the yacht this year,” he said.

With only just over three weeks until the Boxing Day start of the race, there is a lot for Mark Richards and his crew to do, but with their wealth of experience and what is effectively a new boat, he is in no doubt that they are up to the task.

Of course the challengers, like Jim Clark’s Comanche have not been sitting idle either, for such a long race, it often comes down to the little things to make the biggest difference.

Wild Oats XI media director and sailing expert Rob Mundle explains it like this.

In the Sydney Hobart, if you can gain just one second a mile, you’ll get to Hobart 15 to 20 minutes faster,” he says.

That may not sound like much, but in 1982 for example, the difference between the two lead yachts at the end of the race came down to just seven seconds. That was the difference between Condor of Bermuda beating Apollo.

As always it will be a tremendous spectacle as the yachts race from Sydney Harbour, with Wild Oats XI hopefully leading the way with the distinctive Audi rings and Chanel 7 logo on the massive mainsail.

This was a moment not lost on Audi Managing Director, Andrew Doyle in the 2014 race.

“To see her (Wild Oats XI) sailing out through the heads last year with the Audi rings on the mainsail along with our good friends from Chanel 7, was an absolute highlight for me and for my team at Audi Australia.

“To be there throughout the race, watching the updates and then to be in Hobart for the finish was something that myself, my team and our special guests will never forget.”

This year’s race promises to be just such a classic struggle certainly between the new look Wild Oats XI, Comanche and several other challengers looking to put their stamp on this classic yacht race.

Judging by the enthusiasm of the Wild Oats XI camp today – again, it would be a brave move to bet against them.