KEY POINTS:
SYDNEY - Maximus, the major overseas threat in this year's Sydney to Hobart yacht race, hit town yesterday with its New Zealand connections hoping for big breezes to help it add possibly the biggest prize yet to an already bulging trophy cabinet.
Regarded as the biggest rival to fellow 30m maxis and local line honours favourites Wild Oats 11 and Skandia, Maximus arrived in Sydney yesterday afternoon.
A broken mast prevented it from contesting last year's Sydney to Hobart, but boat captain Max Brown made it clear how highly his team rated the race.
"I think winning the Hobart would be the biggest thing we could do with this boat in terms of fleet racing," Brown said.
"Obviously a 24-hour distance record is high on the priority list and that's probably the best thing you can do with a boat like Maximus.
"But I think winning Sydney-Hobart is probably in line with winning the trans-Atlantic, maybe even better."
The New Zealand yacht last year won the Rolex trans-Atlantic challenge on corrected time, completed the line and handicap double in the IRC Super 0 division of the Fastnet race and holds the Round Isle of Wight world speed record.
In its most recent competition, Maximus finished second across the line behind Alfa Romeo in the Rolex Middle Sea Race in late October.
However, it was a largely frustrating European summer campaign for the New Zealand yacht which struggled in light winds at the Maxi Yacht Cup in Sardinia, where it was consistently beaten across the line by Wild Oats 11.
"Maximus is designed for the trans-Atlantic race and the Sydney Hobart as its two toughest races, it's designed to take the weather you expect from those two races," Brown said.
"Sedate sailing in the Mediterranean and eight knots of breeze is not really what it's designed for."
He said he was pretty confident Maximus was strong enough to handle whatever conditions it faced in the Sydney to Hobart starting on Boxing Day.
Asked for his ideal conditions, Brown said anything 25 knots to 35 knots after the beam.
While Brown would have liked more preparation time in Sydney, he was adamant Maximus would be pretty close to 100 per cent ready before the race start.
"Ideally for a race like this if you wanted a full optimisation, a couple of months is ideal but we've been sailing all year non-stop so the boat is in sailing mode already so you can do a few jobs reasonably quickly," Brown said.
He said the emphasis would be on doing as much training as possible with what he called a very high quality crew, most of who had Volvo Ocean Race or America's Cup experience.
Brown held his main Australian rivals in high regard.
"Given that last year they got the triple, the line handicap and the record, I'd say that Wild Oats is definitely the favourite for the race," Brown said.
"Obviously Skandia has made a few modifications to their boat and judging on yesterday's performance (in the Big Boat Challenge) it's looking, they're going pretty fast."
The fleet for Boxing Day remained at 82 after there were no more late entries by yesterday's final deadline for confirmed starters.
- AAP
