KEY POINTS:
Wild Oats XI recruit Michael Coxon will be happily cheering on some of the rival boats in this year's Sydney to Hobart.
A renowned tactitian and helmsman with Admirals Cup and America's Cup representatives, Coxon sailed aboard Ichi Ban the past two years, when that boat finished second and third across the line. This year, Coxon has linked with Wild Oats XI as it bids to achieve a record fourth straight line honours victory.
Coxon, who tasted line honours and overall victory aboard Sovereign in 1987, has a great chance of reaching Hobart first this year.
However, he could also indirectly score handicap honours as several of the leading contenders including the fancied TP52 boats Ragamuffin and Wot Now, 55-footer Yendys, Wild Oats XI and Ichi Ban will all be carrying the sails made by his company North Sails.
While Wild Oats XI is a firm favourite for line honours, it isn't expected to contend for handicap victory and Coxon believed it was better for the sport, not to mention his business, for the spoils to be shared around.
"We are in the entertainment industry and what I mean by that is for the owners to gain bang for their buck," Coxon said. "Sharing the successes on the race track is what keeps them coming back. If one boat is dominating all the time, the numbers drop off.
"I'm very happy to be beaten by any owner with our sails on. That being said I'm obviously a keen yachtsman and competitor and I'll be trying my hardest to beat them off."
Having previously witnessed Wild Oats XI's programme from the outside, Coxon was impressed with the professionalism of the maxi's campaign.
"Now being on the inside, I think it's a very well run programme. They focused on a goal and that is to safely achieve their fourth line honours in a row and then to break their own race record," Coxon said.
He said he felt for his former crew mates on Ichi Ban, who had been working around the clock to repair damage the boat suffered while racing last Saturday.
"It potentially should be the soundest and most trouble-free boat in the fleet because it was built as a Volvo boat to sail around the world."
Ichi Ban returned to the water after intensive repair work on the damaged daggerboard.
"It's been a fantastic effort from all the boys, everyone's dug deep and pulled in a lot of favours to get it done," Ichi Ban's sailing master Michael Spies said.
- AAP
