(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
The Sydney to Hobart yacht race is underway in the 69th edition of the iconic competition.
Competitors have been warned to expect strong winds and big waves after a southerly hits on Saturday night.
And as Santilla Chingaipe reports, Wild Oats XI is tipped to take a record-equalling seventh line honours win.
A fleet of 93 yachts sailed out of Sydney Harbour just after 1pm.
Wild Oats led the field through the Heads for the dash down eastern Australia to Hobart.
Here's how the ABC called the start.
"Here they come, beautiful day, southerly breeze, 15 to 18 knots. Here they go. We're bound for Hobart, we're underway, start of the 69th Sydney to Hobart race. A great from Wild Oats as usual. She's down that western end and here they come, charging, it's an absolute stampede down the Harbour now. Wild Oats a great start, LOYAL got a very good start as well, Ichi Ban and also, Giacomo, the Vovlo 70 from New Zealand, she got an outstanding start."
Rival supermaxi Perpetual LOYAL is flying a protest flag after the eventful start to the race.
Perpetual LOYAL appeared to have the inside running to the first mark, but Wild Oats XI got there first.
It is not known why Perpetual is flying its protest flag but footage showed the boats coming close to each other while in the harbour.
And the dramatic start didn't stop there, with the fleet of 94 being reduced by one within the first half hour.
Channel Seven commentators say the 50-footer Queensland entry Audi Sunshine Coast retired due to rig damage.
"Oh here we go. A retirement. Now this is Audi Sunshine Coast. Rodney Jones is the skipper, they've got a problem. Well, Rodney Jones, what a disaster. What he was saying is the way in which pulls the sail up to the top of the mast, the sheave or the pulley has torn down through the mast to the hounds, which is a disaster because you can't sail with that sort of problem."
Skippers received their final weather briefing with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting clear conditions up over Sydney for the start of race.
But it's warned they will worsen and strong winds are forecast along the New South Wales coast, with seas picking up according to wind strength.
The Bureau's spokesman Andrew Treloar says by Sunday winds could reach 30-40 knots, with gusts of 40-60 knots, taking waves to 5-6 metres -- possibly even peaking at 10 metres.
He says the big change is expected to come through on Saturday night as competitors enter the Bass Strait.
"At the moment we're looking at gale force winds, a west-to-south-wester of about 30-40 knots, and it'll probably come through with quite a thump, too, because you're going from that good north-north-easter round to the west-south-wester. So there's a really good sheer and probably a lot of force in the initial push with that wind change. So conditions could be quite choppy and messy around that."
This year's race has the highest-ever number of overseas-registered yachts competing, with 22 international entries representing eight countries from six continents.
For latest infomation on the race: http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker/
