(CNN) -- Australian maxi yacht Wild Oats XI is on course for a fifth line-honors victory at the Sydney to Hobart race after surviving gale-force conditions which forced 11 vessels to retire on Monday.
Wild Oats, which last won the 628-nautical-mile event in a record time in 2008, is expected to arrive at the Tasmanian capital at 9 p.m. local time (1000 GMT) on Tuesday.
"It was pretty arduous going, very hard to slow the boat down to keep it in one piece,'' navigator Ian Burns told the race's official website.
"We had to get down to very, very small sails and really work at keeping the boat slow so we weren't crashing off waves too much". CNN
