Wild Oats XI wins race out of Sydney Heads

Favored super maxi Wild Oats XI, winner of line honors in five of the past six years, led a fleet of 88 yachts out of Sydney Harbour at the start of the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race.Wild Oats XI sailed between Sydney Heads and into Open Ocean with a narrow lead over its main rivals Investec Loyal and Wild Thing in the 67th edition of the race. Crew immediately hoisted a spinnaker and Wild Oats headed down the east coast of New South Wales State with a 20 knot tail wind and on heavy swells.The fleet was expected to sail into a southerly front on Monday night with headwinds of up to 40 knots, making any challenge to Wild Oats 2005 race record time unlikely.Wild Oats XI struggled in the opening minutes of the race with a winch failure and had to give way to Investec Loyal as the yachts engaged in a tacking duel in the famous harbor. But the race favorite eventually showed its speed and passed through the heads into the open ocean with a lead of several boat lengths.Two yachts, Alchemy and Maluka of Kermandie, were forced to turn back and restart after breaking the start line early.