Mark “Ricko” Richards now owns Wild Oats XI, the yacht ‘he skippered to a record nine Sydney Hobart Line Honours victories for Bob Oatley, inclusive of two triple wins - line, race record and overall - in 2005, the year she was launched and 2012. Ricko and Wild Oats XI last did the race in 2022 before the yacht was mothballed for two years.

She is renamed for the company Ricko founded in 1995 and is undergoing major modifications, led by Richards, including a new deeper keel fin and bulb, advanced upwind daggerboards and radical C-foils. This will be an interesting race for Line Honours.