Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki has won line honours in the second Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race, crossing the line at 03:57:53 this morning. In doing so she has created a new race record of 15hrs 57 minutes and 53 seconds.

Speaking shortly after docking at the marina of the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club, Cameron Miles, Loki’s helmsman said "It was an awesome race - a good, fast easy race."

"Loki didn’t have a chance to get up to any mischief out there. We had an interesting start as the vang was playing up with about two minutes before the start and we thought that we may have to miss it (the start) but the boys managed to sort it out and it was smooth sailing from then on," said Miles.

"Our predication of finishing at 03:00 this morning was only out by 57 minutes, as we were starting to lose some air as the breeze weakened. But all in all a pretty good result," concluded Miles.

Loki’s sparring partner in this race, Andrew Short Marine Shockwave 5, finished just 24 minutes behind Loki in a race time of 16 hours, 21 minutes and 45 secs.

For Andrew Short, who beat Loki out of the heads, it was a great race.

"It was terrific to start the race in daylight hours for us as we had several first-time crew onboard. This allowed them to get used to be boat before it got too dark," said Short.

"We had a really quick race with great boat speed - our top speed was 26.5 knots and everyone was wrapped. We only slowed down a little towards the end as the halyards got tangled but I am really happy with how the boat and crew performed," added Short.

Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin is currently holding third position, with 21 nautical miles to go before she crossed the finish line.

For a list of yachts entered in the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race and to follow the fleet’s progress via Yacht Tracker following the noon start, go to the official race site at: http://sydneynewcastle.cyca.com.au