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Comanche out of Australia's Sydney-Hobart yacht race: report

High seas: Supermaxi yacht Comanche XI cuts through the waves in the 2015 edition Sydney-Hobart race

Defending champion Comanche is unlikely to contest Australia's Sydney to Hobart race this year but could return in 2017, skipper Ken Read has said according to a report Tuesday. The American supermaxi co-owned by Netscape founder Jim Clark and his model wife Kristy first took part in the gruelling 628-nautical-mile course in 2014, coming in runner-up before blitzing the field in 2015 to win line honours. "Doesn't look like Comanche will be coming this year," Read said, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on its website. But Read said the 100-footer could join the blue water classic again the following year, adding: "Maybe 2017". Comanche last year crossed the finish line in the Sydney to Hobart in two days, eight hours, 58 minutes and 30 seconds in a rough race which saw more than 30 boats retiring after bad weather struck on the first night. Among the casualties were Comanche's major rival and eight-time line honours winner Wild Oats XI, which was forced back to Sydney after her mainsail ripped. The race kicks off every year on December 26 during Australia's summer. It runs down the east coast of New South Wales and Victoria and across the Bass Strait into Hobart, the capital of the southern island state of Tasmania. The race organisers, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, had no immediate comment.