KEY POINTS:
SYDNEY - For one, the 628 nautical mile journey from Sydney to Hobart will be swift, hectic and rough.
For the other it'll be smoother sailing, but a heck of a lot slower.
In its 62nd year, the Sydney to Hobart race still attracts all types, including the crews of 21m ocean racer Ichi Ban and the smaller, classically designed Love & War.
Built 30 years apart, Ichi Ban and Love & War provide the perfect illustration of how far sailing has come over the years.
The Jones 70 Ichi Ban (formerly known as Brunel), with its Volvo Ocean Race counterpart ABN Amro, is making its first voyage to Hobart, and while not quite as imposing as the maxis, will give line honours a shake in the right conditions.
Owner and skipper Matt Allen has been modifying the state-of-the-art yacht for several months in an effort to make the already streamlined racing machine even lighter.
The dominant component of the carbon-fibre vessel is the high-tech canting keel which can be swung 40 degrees in each direction.
The option of positions provides the boat with incredible stability and, in laymen's terms, allows more wind to be carried in the sails for longer.
"Modern materials have allowed us to get a very light boat, but you also have got that enormous stability, so you actually create enormous power sailing the boat, and enormous loads on the boat, but that translates into significant speed," Allen said.
The trade-off for the 16 crew members is comfort.
"When you've got all these high-tech ropes and the carbon hulls, there's not much flex, and they're very flat bottomed," Allen said.
"When they hit the waves, they come down a bit like when you do a bellywhacker, and there's enormous shock waves on the boat."
It'll be smoother sailing for the 10-member crew of Love & War, who will guide the classic timber sloop in its ninth Sydney to Hobart under first-time skipper Lindsay May.
"Because she is heavy, relative to her size, she goes through the seas rather than bounces up and over," May said.
For the 33-time Sydney to Hobart veteran and well-respected navigator, preparations consist of cleaning out "all the junk we don't need".
A part-time sailor like Love & War's other nine crew members, May is not a fan of the advanced navigation systems used by the likes of Ichi Ban.
"You sail to Hobart and rack up a couple of thousand dollars worth of communication bills - that's crazy," May said.
"You should be able to go out and take the weather, work it out, and then twice a day you get a position to see where people are. This business of going up on the internet ... it takes a lot of the skill out of it."
May predicts a December 30 finish for Love & War, about three days after Allen hopes to be crossing the line.
A four-day finish was enough to earn Love & War handicap honours back in 1974 and 1978.
Allen, also the vice-commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, says having past winners like Love & War in the race fleet is what makes the Sydney to Hobart great.
"Not only do we want the state-of-the-art boats but we also want the older champion boats of the past, like Love & War, as well as people who are in racer-cruisers to do it, as long as they are capable of making the trip," he said.
"We think that's just part of the fabric of the race."
- AAP
