Australia's Balance wins overall Sydney-Hobart honours

Australian 52-footer Balance was Thursday crowned the overall winner of the Sydney to Hobart race, after overcoming the roughest conditions in many years that forced dozens of yachts to retire.

American 100-footer supermaxi Comanche on Tuesday won line honours over the 628-nautical-mile course in two days, eight hours, 58 minutes and 30 seconds, the first victorious US entry since 1998.

Balance took out the Tattersall's Cup -- handicap honours for the vessel that performs best according to size -- after main rival and one of the smallest competing boats, local 33-footer Quikpoint Azzurro, missed a pre-dawn arrival deadline.

Balance -- which won the race in 2008 under the name Quest -- had finished seventh in line honours on Tuesday with a race time of three days, three hours, 50 minutes and 45 seconds.

Owner-skipper Paul Clitheroe, 60, said it was an "absolute honour" to win the blue water classic with his 10-year-old yacht, which has now taken out handicap honours in two out of five Sydney to Hobart attempts.

"I thought the little boat had beaten us, until the Derwent River decided otherwise," the financial guru added.

Some 108 yachts had left Sydney on Saturday, battling strong winds and punishing conditions as they headed towards Hobart's Constitution Dock on the island state of Tasmania, with more than 30 boats unable to complete the race.