There are yachts that race, and there are those that change the course of sailing history. Wild Oats XI, the 100-foot Supermaxi that dominated the Rolex Sydney Hobart, is firmly in the latter camp. With nine line-honours victories and a reputation for relentless innovation, she became the benchmark for ocean racing performance.
Now, nearly twenty years after her launch, this Australian-built icon begins a new life under an old hand. Mark Richards, the man who skippered her through countless storms and celebrations, has brought her home once again, this time not as a hired helm but as an owner. Under his direction, she has been reborn as Palm Beach XI, a name that bridges his two worlds: the fiercely competitive realm of offshore racing and the refined craftsmanship of luxury motor yachts.
For Richards, the connection is deeply personal. He founded Palm Beach Motor Yachts thirty years ago in a small workshop on the Central Coast of New South Wales. What began as a modest operation driven by craftsmanship and intuition has since become a global marque known for precision, elegance, and efficiency. To him, taking the helm of Wild Oats XI once more feels like a natural extension of that story, a way to unite the lessons of the racecourse with the discipline of design.
“Running a race yacht is much like running a company,” he often says. “You build a team, focus on the goal, and never stop refining.” That approach has shaped both his racing success and his business philosophy. The sea, in his view, is the truest testing ground for any idea. If a design can survive there, through squalls, shifts, and the sheer strain of open water, it can succeed anywhere.
The unveiling of Palm Beach XI will take place at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, where she will be presented not simply as a restored yacht but as a living experiment. The new appendage package, featuring deeper keels, daggerboards and advanced foils, has been developed to test hydrodynamic theories under the most demanding conditions. In effect, Palm Beach XI becomes a floating research platform, translating the competitive edge of racing into insights for future design.
The symbolism runs deep. Just as Formula 1 has long served as a laboratory for car manufacturers, so too will this yacht inform the next generation of motor yachts. Every tweak, adjustment and discovery made on the racecourse can be channelled back into production vessels, refining efficiency, stability and handling in ways that can’t be achieved in a studio.
Richards’ relationship with the Oatley family, who previously owned Wild Oats XI, spans more than two decades of shared triumphs. Together they chased line honours, set records, and helped define modern ocean racing. His gratitude to them, he says, goes beyond competition. “They treated me like family. We built something together that became bigger than any of us expected.”
Now, that legacy evolves. Over the next two years, Palm Beach XI will take part in a global racing programme, reconnecting with the competitive spirit that first made her famous. Along the way, Palm Beach Motor Yachts owners and enthusiasts will have opportunities to witness her journey, not as spectators, but as participants in a continuing story of craft, endurance, and reinvention.
What makes this story so compelling isn’t just the technology or the spectacle of ocean racing. It’s the way it ties together two seemingly distant worlds: the raw, unpredictable energy of competitive sailing and the measured artistry of yacht design. In Palm Beach XI, those forces converge. She is a vessel of both memory and momentum, carrying forward the DNA of Wild Oats XI while charting a new course for what lies ahead.
For Richards and his team, it is a reminder that innovation doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. Sometimes it means revisiting what already works, and asking how far it can still go.
