The grand old dame put one over on the debutante upstart, but new super maxi Comanche quickly earned the respect of seven-time Sydney to Hobart line honours Wild Oats XI in their first clash.
Wild Oats XI overcame some early sail issues to score an eighth line honours win in the annual 14-nautical mile Big Boat Challenge on Tuesday.
Bob Oatley's boat completed the course in 1 hour, 20 minutes, 34 seconds - 1:22 ahead of her second-placed American rival Comanche (1:21:56).
Comanche was racing competitively for the first time since her launch two months ago.
"Wild Oats XI is 10 years old now and she certainly showed today she's still got some legs in her," Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards said.
"But we were really impressed with Comanche's speed today.
"They weren't that far behind us and it (the light conditions) probably suited us a lot more than it did them."
That was confirmed by Comanche skipper Ken Read.
"That was a day that honestly the boat is designed to do exactly the opposite of what we did today and we couldn't be happier," Read said.
"I couldn't be more proud of the crew after three long days of practising and how to get the sails up and down and not embarrass ourselves."
The two crews have got on well parked next to each other at Woolwich Dock and there was plenty of banter between the rival skippers at the post-race press conference.
Richards earned bragging rights at the start, when he outmanouevered Comanche in the jockeying for positions.
"He lined me up from the start, so we owe Ricko one," Read said.
However, Read noted Comanche did have one win over Oats on the day, beating it by 55 seconds on corrected time, though both boats finished down the list on handicap,
"We kinda kicked your arse to be honest, by almost a minute," Read joked to Richards.
"This boat as you can see is a bit of a beast and do we know how it's going to handle?
"Do we know if it's going to stay in one piece when we get typical Hobart conditions? No. The answer is, quite frankly, we have no idea, so it's a bit of a risk just coming here in the first place."
Oatley, who is seeking a record eighth Sydney to Hobart line honours title, was impressed by Comanche.
"It was great to have the American boat ... she did fantastically well for a first race," Oatley said.
Comanche's co-owner, Australian model Kristy Hinze-Clark, had a stint on the wheel, while the crew also included world sailor of the year James Spithill.
Among the other celebrities racing on Tuesday was surfer Sally Fitzgibbons on super maxi Perpetual LOYAL (1:32:32), which had issues during the race and finished fourth across the line behind Queensland Volvo 70 boat Black Jack (1:31:29).
"We're improving, this time last year we shredded a spinnaker, today we just tied her up in ropes," Perpetual LOYAL owner and skipper Anthony Bell said.
Yachting Australia president Matt Allen's 60-footer Ichi Ban was the IRC handicap winner of the race, which was watched by a massive spectator fleet.
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