Anthony Bell's crew arrived in Hobart just after 2.30am, shaving more than 11 per cent off the four-year record having beaten Wild Oats XI's 2012 benchmark by four hours, 51 minutes and 52 seconds.

And Perpetual Loyal might have smashed the record by even more had they not opted to take a small rest and reef the mainsail for half an hour upon the news that Wild Oats XI had been forced to retire on Tuesday morning.

Shipway was aboard Love And War in 1975 when American yacht Kialoa III set a new race record in the Sydney to Hobart, becoming the first boat to reach Hobart in less than three days. The mark stood for 21 years.

Such has been the progression of super-maxi yachting, Perpetual Loyal's blistering run this year was more than a day quicker than Kialoa's historic performance four decades ago.

"When Kialoa broke the record then, it was in similar conditions with a nor'easter all the way, it just shows how fast these modern boats are," Shipway said.

"As [Wild Oats XI skipper] Mark Richards always said, the old record would be smashed one day and unfortunately it wasn't by Wild Oats.

"They had screaming nor'easters and reaching and running conditions down the Tassie coast. The weather just stacked up perfectly for them.

"It's a very impressive record. The boats are so quick but they've got to be well sailed, you can't just have a big boat and go out there and hope for the best.

"They're the three things: it's the weather first, then the crew, then the boat.

"You need super crews on these boats and they're crewed by some of the world's best ocean sailors that know how to push little boats far from land, and that's what it's about."

Bell remodelled his Perpetual Loyal team for this year's race, bringing in several of the sailors who helped Comanche to line honours in last year's race in favour of his usual celebrity-laden crew.

The boat was first out of Sydney Harbour, jostled relentlessly with Wild Oats XI until the latter retired, then rounded Tasman Island late Tuesday night before negotiating the fickle Derwent River.

Giacomo and Scallywag also managed to sneak into Hobart before the breeze died completely, leaving the next bunch of yachts bobbing up and down on the spot.

Black Jack was less than a mile from home and had to anchor for two and a half hours to negate the tide before finally crossing the line in fourth place.

Had Perpetual Loyal arrived at the Derwent just a few hours later, the race record may never have been theirs.

"You need a little bit of luck, what happened shortly after Perpetual Loyal pulled in after an hour's time the wind just started to ease considerably and die down," said John Markos, commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

"So many different elements go into this, we know that Loyal had a crack crew, a really champion crew, they were obviously able to do a lot of preparation and set the boat up this time around.

"I actually thought in 2012 that Wild Oats' record wasn't going to be broken for a long time, it was a superlative performance in a variety of conditions.

"I don't think anyone predicted that we'd get a weather pattern like this that would help the fleet.

"You can't take away from the performance, the crew and the boats they've all done marvellously well, especially those that made it under the record."

Clubhouse handicap leader Giacomo and Scallywag also managed to arrive in Hobart faster than Wild Oats XI did in 2012.