Organizers said Friday that two Sydney to Hobart sailors have died at sea amid wild weather conditions that forced line honors favorite Master Lock Comanche to withdraw among mass retirements.

The men were hit in the head by booms on their yachts in separate episodes, as participants faced challenging weather conditions, the police said.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney said Friday that one sailor each on entrants Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline were killed after being struck by the boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail.

Australian supermaxi LawConnect took back-to-back line honours in the Sydney-Hobart ocean race early Saturday, leading a fleet shaken by the deaths of two sailors in wild weather conditions.

Two sailors have been killed in separate incidents in the treacherous Sydney to Hobart yacht race, officials said on Friday, as a string of yachts retired in powerful winds and high seas.

Comanche took an eight nautical-mile lead over defending line honors champion and fellow 100-foot super maxi LawConnect early in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Thursday.

LawConnect was first out of the Heads, but a furling issue allowed line honours rival Comanche to grab the lead, while last year’s overall winner, Alive, was forced to retire just three hours into the race.