Perpetual Loyal has been forced to retire after suffering hull damage. (Supplied)  The Sydney to Hobart has suffered its biggest retirement, with super maxi Perpetual LOYAL forced to pull the pin, while rival supermaxis Comanche and Wild Oats XI slug it out at the front of the fleet this morning.  The Perpetual LOYAL crew believes the yacht may have hit something at about 9 pm last night (AEDT), the hull started delaminating and the yacht took on water in the bow.  Anthony Bell's boat, which included surfer Sally Fitzgibbons and boxer Danny Green among her crew, was on the NSW far south coast at the time of her retirement.  The crew is safe and expected to arrive at port in about 24 hours.  It was the first race casualty for around 12 hours, but the eighth in total, reducing the initial fleet of 117 to 109.  Comanche in action in Sydney Harbour. (AAP)  For most of the night and early hours of the morning, Bell's boat was locked in a battle for third spot with rival supermaxi, Ragamuffin 100.  Up front, Comanche and Wild Oats XI spent most of the early hours of the morning separated by little more than one nautical mile, as they both pulled further away from the chasing pack.  They put around 20 miles on third-placed supermaxi rival Ragamuffin 100, which in turn was about three miles clear of Volvo 70 boat Black Jack.  Wild Oats XI has now snuck into the lead ahead of Comanche who had lead for most of the race.  The powerful 30 knot southerlies which caused problems late on Thursday were replaced by significantly lighter breezes of around five to 12 knots in the early hours of this morning.  Consequently the leading boats were way off record pace.  The 1997 line honours winner, Brindabella, which retired yesterday evening with rudder bearings issues, returned to Sydney this morning.  "We had that much water back there, that it was quite daunting really, seeing that much water on your boat with another 20 souls on board," Brindabella sailing master Brad Kellett told AAP.  "I got the skipper Bill Sykes down below immediately once I found the problem.  "He and I made the decision right then and there to call the retirement in."  Kellett felt the damage may possibly have been caused during the voluntary 720 degree turns the boat took shortly after the start, when they thought they may have infringed the rules after getting caught between two other boats, as they came up to the first mark in Sydney Harbour.  "Instead of arguing about right of way, we just decided we were the windward boat, so we'll just do the turns," Kellett said.  "There's no point getting to Hobart with a penalty on your head, so we just did our infringement turns, which was all under control.  "But I have a feeling that was where the damage possibly started.  "It was quite a stressful manoeuvre for the steering and I was driving the boat and I definitely felt it load up."  Do you have any news photos or videos?
New American flyer Comanche is just managing to hold off Sydney to Hobart race record Holder Wild Oats XI on the first night of the classic ocean race.