Novice super-maxi Nicorette wins Sydney to Hobart yacht race

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2004

SYDNEY (AFP) — Novice super-maxi Nicorette won the storm-lashed Sydney to Hobart yacht race after raging seas forced out defending champion Skandia and joint favourite Konica Minolta.

The Australian 90-footer, launched just three weeks ago by skipper Ludde Ingvall, crossed the finish line up the Derwent River in Hobart at 5:10am (1810 GMT Tuesday).

Ingvall and his crew finished the 628-nautical-mile bluewater classic in 64 hours and 44 seconds, well outside the race record of 43 hours and 48 minutes set by Nokia in 1999.

The win was the second for Ingvall under the Nicorette banner, having taken line honours with a previous boat bearing the same name in 2000.

Nicorette took the lead early Tuesday when giant seas of up to nine meters and squalls...