The 2017 Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race has been an entertaining affair so far.

At the end of over 40 hours of sailing and racing, it was Wild Oats XI that crossed the finish line in the first position. It posted a timing of one day 18 hours 37 minutes and 6 seconds. Wild Oats XI got the better of the popular Black Jack by a very small margin.

After the completion of sailing across 384 nautical miles, there are just 3 minutes and 31 seconds that separates the two boats. Both the boats are Reichel/Pugh hundred footers. There is no doubt that the next few months of the competition will be fought in great spirits between the Wild Oats XI and the Black Jack. This is the closest race result that this event has seen in 15 years. They will be competing against each other and the event will culminate in Hobart in December.

Mark Richards, the skipper of Wild Oats XI, is excited with what he and his team have put up so far in the 2017 Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race. He said that the racer has been very good for them and it is always better to be in top position at the finish line. He said that sailing was not easy and the tough competition that Black Jack has put forth so far did not make things easy at all.

Richards said that it was dead upwind all the way. He said that the team did 100 tacks and said that the race was challenging for his team. There were plenty of variations in the wind conditions at night and this posed a different and a tough challenge for the team. Richards said that the team had done a few of the upwind races so far, but this was the toughest challenge that they have so far met.