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Wild Thing ban mars Sydney-Hobart start
Source: AFP |
December 27, 2012, Thursday
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THE Sydney to Hobart race got off to a controversial start yesterday with fancied super maxi Wild Thing ruled out at the last minute due to paperwork issues.
Race favorite Wild Oats XI, tipped for a sixth line honors win and hoping to clock a new race record, led the 76-vessel fleet out of Sydney Harbour in record time and took a commanding lead early boosted by a strong southerly wind.
But the start of the annual 628-nautical mile bluewater classic was overshadowed by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's decision to bar Grant Wharington's 100-footer Wild Thing due to paperwork problems. The 2003 line honors winner was among the top three race favorites but officials scratched it just three hours before the start citing incomplete documentation of major modifications extending the vessel to 100 feet.
It would have been Wharington's 25th Sydney to Hobart and the veteran skipper said he had been "blindsided" and was "dumbfounded" at the decision.
"We are absolutely devastated to be told at the 11th hour that we are unable to race to Hobart," a furious Wharington told reporters. "We're a bit stuck for words as to why it happened, the situation, we provided the documentation - I've got it in my hand."
Wharington said he had been granted approval to race yesterday and had received no indication in the hours before the decision that there was a problem.
"As everybody turned their phones back on, (there were) obviously hundreds of messages that it was all over the press, that we were knocked out, and we were absolutely dumbfounded," he said, blasting it as "nonsensical" and claiming he was the victim of a conspiracy.
Race favorite Wild Oats XI, tipped for a sixth line honors win and hoping to clock a new race record, led the 76-vessel fleet out of Sydney Harbour in record time and took a commanding lead early boosted by a strong southerly wind.
But the start of the annual 628-nautical mile bluewater classic was overshadowed by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's decision to bar Grant Wharington's 100-footer Wild Thing due to paperwork problems. The 2003 line honors winner was among the top three race favorites but officials scratched it just three hours before the start citing incomplete documentation of major modifications extending the vessel to 100 feet.
It would have been Wharington's 25th Sydney to Hobart and the veteran skipper said he had been "blindsided" and was "dumbfounded" at the decision.
"We are absolutely devastated to be told at the 11th hour that we are unable to race to Hobart," a furious Wharington told reporters. "We're a bit stuck for words as to why it happened, the situation, we provided the documentation - I've got it in my hand."
Wharington said he had been granted approval to race yesterday and had received no indication in the hours before the decision that there was a problem.
"As everybody turned their phones back on, (there were) obviously hundreds of messages that it was all over the press, that we were knocked out, and we were absolutely dumbfounded," he said, blasting it as "nonsensical" and claiming he was the victim of a conspiracy.
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