Page 22 - ARUBA TODAY

A22 SPORTS
Tuesday 27 december 2016
In this photo provided by Rolex, the yacht Wild Oats XI is under- Wild Oats XI had recovered nia.
way after the start of the Sydney Hobart yacht race, Monday,
Dec. 26, 2016.
Associated Press the race lead and to set a of race organizers the Cruis- the morning.”
SYDNEY (AP) — Eight-time 8 nautical miles and was
line honors winner Wild several hours inside its 2012
Oats XI has been forced to race record early Tues-
retire from the Sydney to day morning when skipper
Hobart yacht race for the Mark Richards made the
second straight year after decision to retire. The fleet
suffering damage to a hy- of 88 yachts which left Syd- is and was the first yacht time
draulic ram. ney on Monday has been
The 100-foot supermaxi was reduced to 84 after the
leading the race by around additional withdrawals of
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,
it just sounds too incredible,
from a bad start to seize John Markos, commodore but I predict about five in
record-breaking pace as ing Yacht Club of Australia Markos said around six or
it sought to break its own was confident the race re- seven yachts were in con-
race record of 1 day, 18 cord would fall as the fleet tention for line honors.
hours, 23 minutes, 12 sec- encountered perfect sail- The key to the record falling
onds. ing conditions. The leading is likely to be whether there
Perpetual LOYAL had the boat must reach the finish is favorable wind in Tasma-
best start of the supermax- line before 7.23am local nia’s Derwent River on the
Wednesday (2023 final stretch to the finish line
through Sydney Heads but GMT Tuesday) to beat Wild at Hobart. Yachts often en-
yielded the lead to Wild Oats’ record. counter very light winds in
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