Sailing-Andoo Comanche returns to victory in Sydney Hobart yacht race

SYDNEY : Andoo Comanche beat LawConnect in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on Wednesday, a return to victory after a race which narrowed down to two 100-footers in the final stretch.

Andoo Comanche crossed the Derwent River finish line about 1 a.m. local time (1400 GMT), taking one day, 11 hours, 56 minutes and 48 seconds to complete the 628-nautical mile bluewater classic, according to organiser the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

The win was the fourth for the supermaxi yacht, after wins in 2015, 2017 and 2019 under different ownership and the name Comanche. It was the second year in a row that LawConnect placed second.

"It feels pretty unbelievable at the moment, it's still sinking in," Andoo Comanche skipper John Winning Jr told reporters in Hobart, Tasmania.

"It was less than an hour ago we were sort of still thinking, are we about to have a shutdown, what's gonna happen, it didn't feel real until the last minute and then now it's just starting to settle in," added Winning, greeted at the finish line by his father, who competed in the race in the 1970s.

Andoo Comanche set the pace down Australia's east coast from the start but LawConnect put up a strong challenge, according to race commentators, and crossed the finish line just 24 minutes behind the winner.

Black Jack, the winner of the 2021 race, came in third.