Wild Oats XI is a state-of-the-art maxi yacht designed by Reichel/Pugh and built by Mcconaghy Boats, launched in December 2005 and won her first Sydney-Hobart the same month. She is distinctively narrow with a 5.1 m (17 ft) beam and originally featured canting-ballast twin-foil appendages. One2three joined the Wild Oats development team in 2009. Since then she has undergone many modifications over time to maintain her competitiveness.
In 2009 she was lengthened at bow and stern from 29.8 to 30.5 m (98 to 100 ft) to meet the new limit in the Sydney–Hobart Yacht race. In 2011 her forward balanced spade canard was removed and twin daggerboards were added amidships. In 2012 she received a bow centreboard as well as caudal fin winglets on her torpedo bulb. In 2013 she was equipped with a Dynamic Stability System (DSS) foil, i.e. a retractable horizontal foil deployed on the leeward side of the boat. In 2015 her stern was shortened by 2 m and her 12 m forward sections were dramatically removed with a chainsaw and replaced by a 14 m longer, sleeker bow, keeping her midship sections unmodified and, in effect, moving her entire existing sail plan aft by 2 m.
Wild Oats XI has undergone both significant changes and subtle refinements over the past six years to maintain her competitiveness with the latest thinking and developments in maxi-yachts. It has been an interesting—and ongoing—project for One2three Naval Architects. She is a very good all-round yacht, and has had a brilliant racing career, being one of the most-successful maxi-yachts of all time. Wild Oats XI has won line honours in the Sydney–Hobart yacht race eight times from eleven starts, and is the only yacht to have taken the “triple crown” (line honours, handicap honours, and broken the race record) since Rani in the inaugural 1945 race; Wild Oats XI has done it twice.
Steve’s presentation detailed the innovations made on Wild Oats XI since 2011, giving insights into the inner thoughts of the design team, the rationale behind the changes and the results they achieved.
Question time was lengthy, and provided some further insights.
The vote of thanks was proposed, and the certificate and “thank you” bottle of wine presented, by Adrian Broadbent. The vote was carried with acclamation.
