Wild Oats XI on Thursday night stood on the threshold of a history equalling line honours hat-trick in the Sydney to Hobart, as it maintained a big lead over the other two maxis in the fleet.

By early evening, Wild Oats XI was the best part of 21 nautical miles ahead of City Index Leopard, with the third maxi, Victoria's Skandia a further 12 behind.

Neither of the two chasers ever mounted a serious challenge to Wild Oats XI, which started the day with a nine nautical mile lead which it relentlessly expanded.

Ichi Ban which was second across the line last year, was engaged in a keen battle for fourth with new American boat Rosebud.

Wild Oats XI was also looming as a serious contender for overall honours, as it led on corrected time from Skandia and 34-foot West Australian boat Huckleberry.

During the day, competitors reported winds blowing early on from the west and south west and later shifting into the east and south east, with the strength varying from 20 knots down to about six.

Barring an accident or an unexpected change in conditions which might leave her parked in the Derwent, Wild Oats XI looked certain to become only the second boat in the 63-year history of the event after Morna (1946-47-48) to claim line honours three successive years.

However her own race record of 1d 18h 40m 10s set in 2005 looked relatively safe.

While friendly freshening northerlies were expected in the early hours of Friday, it looked like they might come a little too late.

"I think the race record will be intact," said Ichi Ban skipper Matt Allen said, who didn't expect the northerlies to arrive until around 3am (AEDT).

Allen, who is also the commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, expressed admiration for the impending achievement of Wild Oats XI and couldn't see any hope for the boats closest to her.

"Not really, given that we're going to see fairly similar conditions between now and the finish I wouldn't have thought there would be any major surprises," Allen said.

"I suppose the only caveat to that is depending on the arrival time into Storm Bay and the Derwent anything can happen there and has happened so before.

"But I would have thought given the size of the lead she has, I would have thought that she'd continue to write her way into the record books by getting the hat-trick."

By nightfall, 79 of the 82 starters were still racing, with just one retirement and one injury reported during the day.

Derek Brown, a 48-year-old crew member aboard the 47-foot Pretty Fly II, was spending the night in Pambula hospital, after he was struck in the face by a spinnaker pole.

The cruiser Capriccio of Rhu resumed racing Thursday after a crew member was deemed fit enough to continue after losing the top off a finger in an incident on Wednesday.

The 52-foot Victorian boat Cougar II pulled out and headed to Eden after suffering chain plate damage.

The relatively benign conditions had Tom Addis, the Australian navigator aboard Rosebud asking for ways he could convince his American crew mates that not all Hobarts are this "pleasant".

"They are starting to think that all of our stories of backless waves, icy winds etc are rubbish," Addis said.

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