Page 22 - ARUBA TODAY
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A22    SPORTS
              Tuesday 27 december 2016
                                                                      Wild Oats XI retires from



                                                                      Sydney to Hobart race




                                                                      Freyja,  Dare  Devil  and  Pa-  position  was  deceiving.  boats  moving  at  a  very
                                                                      trice.                       Skipper  David  Witt  made  high speed. They are pick-
                                                                      Supermaxi  Perpetual  LOY-   the  decision  to  go  further  ing up pace now that the
                                                                      AL  now  leads  the  race  by  offshore  than  most  of  the  sun has come up.
                                                                      about  15  miles  and  is  also  fleet which puts the boat in  “The  modeling  suggests
                                                                      inside  the  race  record  as  a strong tactical position. It  they  are  going  to  finish  at
                                                                      the fleet sails down the east  is likely to have to gybe less  3am, (more than) four hours
                                                                      coast of Victoria.           often  than  its  rivals  as  the  ahead of the race record.
                                                                      Maserati is in third spot.   fleet  approaches  Tasma-    I’m not quite believing that,
            In this photo provided by Rolex, the yacht Wild Oats XI is under-  Wild Oats XI had recovered  nia.                 it just sounds too incredible,
            way after the start of the Sydney Hobart yacht race, Monday,   from  a  bad  start  to  seize  John  Markos,  commodore  but  I  predict  about  five  in
            Dec. 26, 2016.
                                                     Associated Press  the race lead and to set a  of race organizers the Cruis-  the morning.”
                                                                      record-breaking  pace  as  ing Yacht Club of Australia  Markos  said  around  six  or
            SYDNEY  (AP)  —  Eight-time  8  nautical  miles  and  was   it  sought  to  break  its  own  was confident the race re-  seven yachts were in con-
            line  honors  winner  Wild  several hours inside its 2012   race  record  of  1  day,  18  cord would fall as the fleet  tention for line honors.
            Oats XI has been forced to  race  record  early  Tues-    hours,  23  minutes,  12  sec-  encountered  perfect  sail-  The key to the record falling
            retire  from  the  Sydney  to  day morning when skipper   onds.                        ing conditions. The leading  is likely to be whether there
            Hobart  yacht  race  for  the  Mark  Richards  made  the   Perpetual  LOYAL  had  the  boat  must  reach  the  finish  is favorable wind in Tasma-
            second  straight  year  after  decision to retire. The fleet   best start of the supermax-  line  before  7.23am  local  nia’s Derwent River on the
            suffering damage to a hy-    of 88 yachts which left Syd-  is  and  was  the  first  yacht  time   Wednesday   (2023  final stretch to the finish line
            draulic ram.                 ney  on  Monday  has  been   through Sydney Heads but  GMT Tuesday) to beat Wild  at Hobart. Yachts often en-
            The 100-foot supermaxi was  reduced  to  84  after  the   yielded  the  lead  to  Wild  Oats’ record.               counter  very  light  winds  in
            leading the race by around  additional  withdrawals  of   Oats XI as the fleet headed  “We’re  very  confident  the  the Derwent, delaying their
                                                                      down the New South Wales  race record is going to get  finish, but Markos said pro-
                                                                      coast.                       broken,” Markos said. “This  jections were for wind con-
                                                                      While  the  Hong  Kong-      is  the  first  time  I’ve  been  ditions  which  would  allow
                                                                      owned  supermaxi  Scally-    confident  in  the  last  10  the  leaders  to  maintain  a
                                                                      wag  was  shown  in  eighth  years.                       record pace.q
                                                                      place  early  Tuesday  its  “The  reality  is  you’ve  got

                                                                      Australian Open increases


                                                                      overall purse to $36.2 million




                                                                                                                                ment,  including  $A3.7  mil-
                                                                                                                                lion ($2.68 million) each to
                                                                                                                                the  men’s  and  women’s
                                                                                                                                singles champions.
                                                                                                                                It is a 14 percent increase in
                                                                                                                                prize money from 2016, and
                                                                                                                                offers  A$50,000  ($36,220)
                                                                                                                                to a first-round loser in the
                                                                                                                                tournament  which  begins
                                                                                                                                on Jan. 16.
                                                                                                                                Tournament director Craig
                                                                                                                                Tiley says “we are commit-
                                                                                                                                ted to further improving the
                                                                                                                                pay and conditions on the
                                                                                                                                international tennis tour to
                                                                      Andy Murray is interviewed by Gary Lineker over a video link   ensure  every  profession-
                                                                      prior to the announcement of him winning the BBC Sports Per-  al  tennis  player  is  properly
                                                                      sonality  of  the  Year  2016  at  The  Genting  Arena,  Birmingham,   compensated.”
                                                                      England, Sunday Dec. 18, 2016.                            The  U.S.  Open  has  the
                                                                                                               Associated Press  largest  prize  money  for  a
                                                                                                                                Grand Slam tournament, a
                                                                      MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)  lion Australian dollars ($36.2   purse of $46. 3 million and
                                                                      — Australian Open organiz-   million)  in  prize  money  for   $3.5 million for each of the
                                                                      ers say they will offer 50 mil-  the  2017  tennis  tourna-
                                                                                                                                singles champions.q
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