US yacht Comanche leads after 7 hours of Sydney-Hobart race

SYDNEY (AP) American 100-foot super maxi Comanche was the first yacht out of the harbor and maintained its lead Saturday evening in the Sydney to Hobart race, ahead of eight-time and defending champion Wild Oats XI.

The 71st Sydney to Hobart race featured a 108-yacht fleet, including a record 27 international challengers.

More than seven hours into the race, Comanche led Wild Oats XI by eight nautical miles, with fellow super maxi Ragamuffin in third and another American yacht, 88-footer Rambler 88, in fourth.

Depending on weather and wind conditions, the 628-nautical-mile race to Hobart, the capital of the island state of Tasmania, could take two to three days.

The foreign contingent includes 12 yachts from the Clipper Round the World race, part of its eight-leg, 16-race program.

High winds and thunderstorms were forecast for later Saturday as the yachts head down the New South Wales state south coast and into the often treacherous Bass Strait.

Comanche captain Ken Read said his super maxi held an edge in speed but he was concerned about the expected southerly change - including 35-knot winds - that was likely to slow his yacht's momentum on the first night.

''What we don't want is for it to be so windy that it becomes a survival and we have to scale back and hold on,'' Read said.

''We hope it's not too much wind so we can just continue racing right through. Hopefully we can slowly but surely keep trying to pull away.''

There were five early retirements. Among those, Tasmanian boat Cougar II returned within an hour with the most damage - an entire portion of the stern missing after an incident with the bigger Lupa of London, which later retired. And Chinese boat Ark323 came back with a crack in the deck after a collision with a rival yacht.