Loki declared overall winner of Sydney to Hobart race

Australian yacht Loki was Friday named overall winner of the Sydney to Hobart ocean race, taking handicap honours in the prestigious 628 nautical mile bluewater classic. "It's a fantastic feeling," said Loki's owner and skipper Stephen Ainsworth after being presented with the Tattersall's Cup in Hobart. "Having done 14 races I know how hard it is to win. So many things have to go right for you... the wind gods were with us this year." The 100-foot supermaxi Investec Loyal was Thursday confirmed as line honours winner after storming home in two days, six hours, 14 minutes and 18 seconds -- the fourth-fastest result in the race's 67-year history. But the race also awards a handicap honour, taking into account the dimensions of each boat in the fleet -- which range from 30-footers (9 metres) to as big as 100-footers -- along with age and other factors. The Reichel Pugh 63-foot Loki was fourth across the line with a time of two days, 14 hours, 20 minutes and 38 seconds, arriving into Hobart's Constitution Dock at 3:20am on Thursday -- fast enough to earn it overall honours. Overall second place winner was Living Doll while Ragamuffin came in third. Wild Rose had been vying with Loki for handicap honours but a lack of wind saw that yacht's hopes disappear, and hampered other boats in the fleet from finishing. By late afternoon Friday 38 boats had made it to Hobart. The Sydney to Hobart is a famously unforgiving ocean race which takes crews down Australia's southeast coast, across the notorious Bass Strait and up the maddening calm of the Derwent River. Catastrophic conditions claimed six lives and sank five yachts in 1998, and some vessels are routinely unable to complete the race, with 11 of 88 starters this year retiring from the course. But after rough and heavy seas hit on the the first night out of Sydney Harbour this year, it was the lack of breeze for the rest of the race which was bedevilling the boats. Ainsworth said the aim for navigators was to avoid stopping. "We came close a couple of times, but never stopped," he said. "We were quietly confident that we would win because it was a fading breeze, not a building breeze, and that worked for us." Loki's navigator Michael Bellingham said "weather strategy" had been crucial. "We looked at that first frontal system and determined where we wanted to be positioned so that we had a runway into Montague Island and then out again to find the (East Australian) current," he said. "We found it, got into it and it was one of the best I have experienced. It gave us up to 3.5 knots and extended well into Bass Strait, maybe 40 miles into the strait. It made for a choppier sea but we were willing to wear that." First-time Sydney to Hobart winner Investec Loyal sailed into controversy on reaching Hobart on Wednesday when a protest was lodged, but a racing jury upheld its nailbiting line honours victory over favourite Wild Oats XI. The five-nation jury dismissed a race committee protest which had centred on claims that Loyal had gained an unfair advantage by asking a media helicopter crew what sail five-time winner Wild Oats XI was flying. The supermaxis had been locked in a neck-and-neck race to the finish, frustrated by calm conditions which had meant navigating around windless areas and wringing every last ounce of energy from lacklustre breezes was crucial.