Perpetual LOYAL has made a big impression on Wild Oats Xi skipper Mark Richards despite suffering a defeat and six-figure sail damage in their much anticipated first showdown at Tuesday's Big Boat Challenge.
The two celebrated supermaxis were the star turns in the annual 14 nautical mile sprint around Sydney Harbour.
Perpetual LOYAL, which will make her Sydney to Hobart debut this year, was leading the race until she blew out a headsail in around 33 knots of breeze on the first lap.
The fleet encountered far heavier winds than expected, with most having anticipated breezes of under 10 knots.
Wild Oats XI (1hr 10m 10s) pounced on her new rival's problem to surge to the front and take line honours in the event for a seventh time.
Perpetual LOYAL (1hr 12m 34s) comfortably held on for second, with the Volvo 70 yacht Black Jack (1hr 15m 59s) finishing third after making a blistering start.
Anthony Bell, the skipper and owner of Perpetual LOYAL, joked it was a more expensive race than he expected.
Other high-profile skippers estimated the cost of replacing the sail as between $150,000 and $200,000.
Bell said he had been in touch with American contacts about a replacement sail and expected to get it before the Boxing Day start of the Sydney to Hobart and it wouldn't affect the boat's leadup to that race.
Richards, who is looking for a record-equalling seventh Sydney to Hobart line honours title this year, described Perpetual LOYAL as an "impressive bit of kit" after getting his first close-up look at the boat in race mode.
"There's no question the old LOYAL, she's one seriously powerful machine," Richards said.
Quick as a flash Bell replied: "it's a pretty new LOYAL actually mate, its not that old."
Asked where Bell's boat ranked among all the challengers Wild Oats XI had faced since making her debut in 2005, owner Bob Oatley said: "she's right up there, no doubt about that."
While ruing the costly damage, Bell still liked the way his boat performed.
"We were very pleased with the way the boat went, we were winning when it happened," Bell said.
"From a skipper's point of view, I was very pleased with the way we recovered from the breakage and we got back into the race pretty well."
Richards praised his crew and said a decision still had to be made about whether the boat would use its recently repaired new mast or an older one for the Hobart race.
The third supemaxi in the race, Wild Thing (1hr 17m 29s) finished fourth after breaking the start.
Shogun V, which isn't contesting this year's Sydney to Hobart, took handicap honours from the new Carkeek 60 Ichi Ban, one of the early fancies for overall victory in this year's Hobart.
