By Paul Tait

Australian maxi Wild Oats claimed a rare second successive victory in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race when it crossed the finish line late on Thursday.

The hi-tech 30-metre (98 feet) yacht had led for most of the 628-nautical mile race since it started in Sydney Harbour on Tuesday and crossed the finish line under spinnaker after a fast passage over the final stages.

It won in an official time of two days eight hours 52 minutes and 33 seconds, about 14 hours outside the race record it set last year.

"I feel like I'm a young man again," Wild Oats owner Bob Oatley old reporters after greeting his winning crew. "I told them to play it safe and the boat would do the rest, and it did."

Australian 70-footer Ichi Ban was in second place more than 40 miles astern of Wild Oats after overtaking Australian maxi Skandia about 60 miles from the finish line in Hobart, capital of the southern island state of Tasmania.

New South Wales businessman Oatley's boat revelled in southeasterly winds of up to 20 knots in the run to the finish line, dashing the hopes of Ichi Ban and Skandia .

Skipper Mark Richards said the win was satisfying because it was achieved in more difficult conditions than last year.

"A lot of people out there were mocking us and saying that if it had have been a tough race we wouldn't have got there. Well, you don't get much tougher than this year and we're here," Richards said.

Skandia won in 2003 and had hung on grimly to second place since damaging its canard, or forward rudder, on Wednesday before it was finally passed by the smaller Ichi Ban.

Last year, the hi-tech Wild Oats became the first boat in 60 years to win the triple honours of race record as well as line and handicap honours. However it has little chance of claiming a handicap win on corrected time this year.

It is the first yacht in more than 40 years to claim back-to-back line honours wins. The last yacht to achieve that feat was Astor in 1963 and 1964.

Headwinds and rough seas over the first two days robbed Wild Oats of the chance to challenge the race record it set last year of one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds.

BEGAN SINKING

Wild Oats was able to avoid the trouble which forced nine boats to retire on Wednesday from a starting fleet of 78. New Zealand maxi Maximus and Dutch entry ABN AMRO had both briefly taken the lead before they were dismasted in rough seas.

The crew of Australian entry Koomooloo abandoned their 38-year-old timber yacht after it began sinking.

Eight crew members on board Maximus were injured and three were winched from its decks by helicopter after it was dismasted early on Wednesday. All crew were later reported safe.

While rough, the conditions were nowhere near as bad as the 1998 race, during which six sailors died when a terrifying storm slammed into the fleet.

That tragedy prompted race organisers to impose stringent new safety standards but minor injuries are still common in one of the world's toughest races.