Wild Oats XI has joined a select band of yachts to record back-to-back wins in the Sydney to Hobart race.

The 30-metre maxi reached the finish line at 9.52pm local time on Thursday to clock an official time of two days, eight hours, 52 minutes, 33 seconds.

Wild Oats XI became just the sixth boat to record back-to-back victories since the race's inception in 1945 and the first since Astor achieved the feat in 1963-64.

It was well outside its own race record of one day, 18 hours, 40 minutes, 10 seconds set last year, but that was hardly likely to concern owner and NSW businessman Bob Oatley.

The pre-race favourite lived up to its billing, although it didn't quite dominate the race as comprehensively as it did last year.

Skippered by Mark Richards, Wild Oats XI temporarily lost the lead on a tumultuous first night to both rival maxi Maximus and 70-footer ABN Amro, both of which were dismasted in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Oatley's boat subsequently regained the lead and took control of the 628-nautical mile classic, though Victorian maxi Skandia slashed its lead to 11 miles in the early hours of Thursday morning.

However, Skandia's bid to win a second line honours crown was severely handicapped by the loss of its front rudder.

It bravely held onto second until just a couple of hours before Wild Oats XI finished, when it was finally passed by 70-footer Ichi Ban.

Oatley's boat was stacked with proven Sydney to Hobart winners, with crew members of 15 previous line honours-winning yachts aboard.

A jubilant Bob Oatley declared: "I feel like I'm a young man again."

Asked what advice he had sent his crew off with, he revealed: "I told them to play it safe and let the boat do the rest and it did."

Questioned about the possibility of a hat-trick of line honours victories next year, Oatley wouldn't definitely commit to Wild Oats XI coming back next year, saying only that it would campaign in Europe, while his 66-footer Wild Oats X competed in Australia.

"We are pleased to have this race behind us and it's great to be in one piece and the crew to be in one piece."

The boat will now head back to Sydney to contest the Pittwater to Coffs Harbour race.

Crew members said there had been some anxious moments during the race and revealed the boat had suffered a torn headsail.

They said they had proven a point by winning in tough conditions after the boat's durability had been questioned last year.

"We were really happy to have a tough race to show everyone this boat is capable of going upwind just as well as downwind, so it was good stuff," Richards said.

Asked if he felt his boat had needed to prove a point in that area, Richards said: "Absolutely, that's why we prepared so well".

"It was tough, a very tough race, you don't get much tougher than that.

"You could have got bigger seas but it was tough."

Richards said he hadn't thought his boat was definitely in a winning position until around midday.

"We had a bit of a tough night last night and early this morning, we ran out of breeze behind Flinders Island for four hours," Richards said.

"So we actually stopped for four hours which was really frustrating for us, because the other boats pulled 40 miles out of us, so that was a bit unfortunate.

"But then we got back through the other side of the hole and got going again and we were okay from there."

Oatley said he was very nervous from the first night and that feeling didn't subside until his boat crossed the finish line.

"The smallest thing can put a yacht out of a race," he said.

"No matter how well it is prepared there's always the unknown fickle finger of fate gets you.

"The boat was so well-prepared, nothing like that happened, so I was very relieved when it crossed the line tonight.

"That gun was music to my ears."

Helmsman Iain Murray said he thought the race last year was a lot more tactical.

"We had Alfa Romeo on our tail all last year and it was a very fast race and because it was a downwind race last year, small changes when you're going past make big gains in speed and we had a lot of switching breezes," Murray said.

"Whereas this year it was a little bit of get in front and follow the leader and try not to leave too many crumbs for the others to pick up on."

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