Sailing: New Sydney-Hobart race record looms

'Wild Oats XI' makes final preparations prior to the race start during the 2016 Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race. Photo / Getty Images

The Sydney to Hobart line honours race record is under siege and could be shattered by about two hours, according to Cruising Yacht Club of Australia commodore John Markos.

The fleet pacesetters headed by eight-time line honours winner Wild Oats XI were well ahead of record pace after dawn broke on Tuesday and the race reached the 19-hour mark.

Wild Oats XI was around five nautical miles ahead of rival supermaxi Perpetual LOYAL, south of Gabo Island, off the east coast of Victoria.

They had opened up a handy but not yet decisive lead over the trio of Volvo 70s, Giacomo, Black Jack and Masersati, the 80-foot Beau Geste and supermaxi Scallywag.

"They've moved into strong easterlies and beyond that, I expect the conditions to run to the north east and that will take some very fast sailing down the coast,' Commodore Markos told AAP.

"i think probably six or seven boats are in contention for line honours."

The leading boat must reach the finish line before 7.23am on Wednesday to beat the race record of one day ,18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds set by Wild Oats in 2012.

'We're very confident the race record is going to get broken,'" Commodore Markos said.

"This is the first time I've been confident in the last 10 years.

"The reality is you've got boats moving at a very high speed.

"They are picking up pace now that the sun has come up.

"The prediction tonight is they will get to Storm Bay probably around 11pm.

"The usual thing that happens with the Derwent is it shuts down without wind.

"The predictions are for there to be a reasonable breeze in the Derwent and that means they will just carry through..

"The modelling suggests they are going to finish at 3am (more than) four hours ahead of the race record.

"I'm not quite believing that, it just sounds too incredible, but I predict about five in the morning."

CQS skipper Ludde Ingvall reported variable winds through the night, dropping down to as low as two knots.

The radical supermaxi was around 40 miles astern of Wild Oats XI and placed in the lower reaches of the top 10.

The recently rebuilt boat had more than her share of dramas in the first nine hours of the race on Monday.

She tilted on her side in the first three minutes of the race after her engine stalled and the keel had to be manually released, and she later lost the wing tips and flaps on both sides.

After initially targeting a top four placing, Ingvall said he would be happy to finish in the first 10 across the line

Commodore Markos said he wasn't surprised at where CQS was placed.

"I think they've struggled only because they are not familiar with the boat," he said.

"It's only had one short race before now and you can't really expect a high performance when the boat is largely untested."

He nominated Beau Geste as the boat among the leading group which was perhaps performing most above expectations..

"It's sailing very competitively with the Volvo 70s which are built for these conditions," he said.