[SYDNEY] Australian yacht Ichi Ban won the bluewater classic Sydney-Hobart handicap honours for being the boat that performed best according to size, race officials announced Monday.

The 628-nautical mile (1,163-kilometre) gruelling race down Australia's east coast, which started in Sydney Harbour on December 26, awards trophies for a line honours winner and an overall handicap winner.

The TP52 Ichi Ban, skippered by Matt Allen, crossed the finish line in 11th place on Saturday night, about 12 hours behind line honours winner Comanche.

"This is Matt's third win -- twice as a skipper, one as a crew member back in the '80s -- so we are delighted to announce that really well deserved victory," Cruising Yacht Club of Australia commodore Paul Billingham said.

Ichi Ban, which first won the Sydney-Hobart in 2017, finished in two days, six hours, 18 minutes and five seconds.

But the crew had to wait until others completed their race to find out if they had the best corrected time to lift the Tattersall Cup, which they eventually did on Monday morning.

The overall result came after Quest moved to third place on the overall leaderboard by winning a protest against Envy Scooters for failing to keep clear of Quest on starboard tack and forcing the other boat to bear away to avoid a collision.

Envy Scooters was penalised two hours and dropped to sixth place overall as a result.

AFP