(CNN) -- It's the super yacht with a super model and her billionaire tycoon husband as its joint owners and the 100ft supermaxi Comanche lived up to expectations with a blazing start to the Rolex Sydney-Hobart race Friday. 

The 'Bluewater Classic' in its 70th staging is the first real competitive test for Comanche, which has been specially built for distance racing and speed record attempts, the brainchild of Netscape co-founder Jim Clark and his wife, Kristy Hinze-Clark, who was born in Australia. 

Comanche, skippered by American Ken Read and with a strong international crew, is expected to battle it out for line honors with seven-time winner Wild Oats XI in the 628-nautical miles race, one of the highlights of the international yachting calendar. 

The traditional Boxing Day start from Sydney Harbor saw an early glimpse of Comanche's speed with the skipper of Wild Oats XI, Mark Richards, moved to exclaim: "She's smoking -- look at that thing go!" 

Out to sea and past the first mark in an unofficial record time, Comanche led from Wild Oats XI with the other supermaxis Ragamuffin and Perpetual Loyal giving chase. 

The race, which runs down the east coast of Australia and across the Bass Strait to the Tasmanian capital Hobart, has drawn a 117-strong entry, the biggest since 1994. 

But pre-race attention has centered on Comanche -- with its wide-bodied and cutting edge design, and two years in the building in Maine in the United States. 

Clark watched from a supporting boat as his wife was part of the crew when Comanche took part in the Big Boat Challenge in Sydney Harbor on December 9, won by Wild Oats XI. 
Who won the last race?
unknown