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Wild Oats XI owner Bob Oatley reckons complacency is just about the only threat to his boat taking a fifth line honours victory in the Sydney to Hobart.
The 100-foot supermaxi reached Hobart first in four successive years from 2005-08, before New Zealand’s magnificent Alfa Romeo beat her home in 2009.
However, Alfa and formidable supermaxi ICAP Leopard, which finished third across the line last year, are not returning in 2010.
That leaves Oats to deal with primarily domestic opposition, all of which she has convincingly beaten in the last five years.
No Australian boat has ever finished within an hour of Oats, or beaten her across the line or in any other sailing event.
Asked about the biggest threat to Oats, Oatley replied “ourselves, if we become complacent and don’t do enough preparation”.
The latter shouldn’t be a problem for Oatley’s speed machine, as she has spent much more time on the water racing and training in 2010 than last year.
With the global financial crisis effectively putting a freeze on building new hugely expensive big boats, Oats faces a familiar list of old Australian rivals including Investec LOYAL, the only other maximum length 100-foot boat in the race.
LOYAL takes the gong for the most celebrity-studded crew.
Wallabies Phil Kearns and Phil Waugh and boxing world champion Danny Green, who sailed on the boat last year, will be joined in 2010 by seven-time women’s world surfing champion Layne Beachley, swimmer Geoff Huegill and former Test cricketer Matthew Hayden.
Skipper Sean Langman, who steered LOYAL into fourth place across the line last year, has also fortified his crew with a number of high quality experienced professional sailors.
Beachley was looking forward to trying to conquer another water-based sport.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge and that’s the reason I’m here, to contribute to the team, but also extend myself and take myself out of my comfort zone,” Beachley said.
The fleet of around 90 will also include 2003 line honours winner Wild Thing and another 98-foot supermaxi, Lahana.
The 90-foot YuuZoo, which took line honours in 2004 as Nicorette and her determined skipper Ludde Ingvall are back for another crack, with a crew including a smattering of promising young sailors being groomed for potential America’s Cup competition.
Almost all of the supermaxis have undergone modifications in order to close the gap between Oats and themselves.
Wild Thing skipper Grant Wharington, whose boat didn’t make it out of Sydney Harbour last year after a desperate race against time to replace a broken mast, has drastically slashed his crew to 10.
Wharington’s misfortune dominated the lead-up to last year’s race, while 2009 handicap honours winner Two True suffered a similar fate this month.
She also had to replace a broken mast, but obtained a replacement with just over a week to spare before the Boxing Day start.
The South Australian 40-foot boat can expect plenty of competition in her title defence.
As usual, the battle for overall honours will involve a lot of boats other than the handful who can realistically aspire to line honours glory.
Sister boats Limit and Loki, 62 and 63-foot respectively, are the popular picks to headline the charge for handicap success.
The 72-foot British entry RAN, owned by Niklas Zennstrom, the co-founder of Skype, is likely to leave the overseas challenge for overall honours.
“They (RAN) haven’t come here to be second,” said Loki helmsman Gordon Maguire.
The 50-foot Jazz is also expected to be a leading contender among the mid-sized entries.
The fleet will contain boats representing France, Italy, the United States and Britain and two Russian-crewed entries.
Among the most distinguished individuals in the fleet will be 83-year-old Syd Fischer, who took line honours in 1988-90 in one of his previous Ragamuffin boats.
This year’s campaign in his latest Ragamuffin will be Fischer’s 41st tilt at the great race.
“The Hobart race is a luck race, it depends what current you get,” Fischer said.
“You’ll never know what will happen, you’ve got to get everything going for you.”
The oldest boat in the fleet is the 1968-built Spirit Of Koomooloo.
The smallest boat is the 34-foot Illusion.