Yachting: Wild Oats facing fierce test for history

Australian supermaxi yacht Wild Oats will be seeking a ninth title in the Sydney to Hobart. Photo / Getty

Eight times jolly Wild Oats XI has chuted down the east coast on Boxing Day and delivered a red and white victory in the annual Sydney to Hobart.

But the owner of American powerhouse Comanche says he has no qualms playing the grinch this year and ruining what would be an unprecedented ninth line honours title for the remodelled Australian 100-footer.

Asked how he felt about potentially crashing the post-Christmas party of Australia's yachting sweetheart, Jim Clark said: "It feels good."

Despite launching just a fortnight before race start last year, Comanche finished just 55 minutes behind Wild Oats XI in her Hobart debut.

Clark, who co-owns the boat with Australian model wife Kristy Hinze-Clark, has since corrected what he believed to be a balance issue that caused a drop in speed at certain points in 2014.

"I believe if we had the same boat now last year, we would've gotten through that lull more quickly and it would've been a better race for us," he said.

But it's the latest weather forecast, rather than any yacht problem, that stands in the way of Comanche stealing the thunder of her southern hemisphere counterpart in the Boxing Day race.

Just like she did last year, Comanche is expected to jump out of Sydney Heads and rocket away in a traditional nor-easterly, and there remains a tricky southerly buster to battle on opening night.

However winds are expected to die down just past the start of Bass Strait, halting the momentum of a boat that was built to go fast downwind.

"There's only a couple of points in very light air that it starts becoming a big, fat lady," Clark said. "As people saw last year at the start of the race, it's got some real get-up-and-go if the wind is just right.

"Obviously those kind of conditions favour us in the first bit of the race. Then we'll see. Any light air is our enemy, especially if it's down to two knots."

In any result, Clark announced that it would be Comanche's final attempt in the Sydney-Hobart race due to the time and expense needed to bring the boat down under. She was the only 100-footer that didn't participate in last week's warm up Big Boat race.

"The organising committee needs to consider, if they want more international boats to come down here, putting those races a little closer together," he said. "Last year I had a team of people here the whole month, the entire sailing team practically.

"That's asking a lot of people at Christmas time. This year we just came down for this race."

-AAP