New Zealand yachtsman Neville Crichton believes his new super maxi Alfa Romeo is capable of slashing 10 hours off the Sydney to Hobart race record if he gets the right weather.
Crichton sent a chill through his rival skippers when making his prediction at yesterday's official launch of the 61st
edition of the 628-nautical mile blue ocean classic, which starts from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day.
His 30m carbon fibre behemoth - successor to the yacht of the same name which won line honours in 2002 before pillaging numerous trophies in Europe - has yet to race competitively but Crichton is confident Nokia's 1999 race record of one day 19 hours 48 hours 2 seconds is under serious threat.
Previous speed restrictions have been lifted and there are now no constraints on sail size or the height of the mast, giving Crichton - and Australian Bob Oatley's yet-to-be launched Wild Oats XI - a jump on the rest of the 92-strong fleet.
The A$10 million ($10.78 million) Alfa Romeo can carry 800sq m of sail on a 44m mast.
It is also equipped with a 12.5 tonne steel canting keel powered by a hydraulics system that can tilt it through 180 degrees in 30 seconds, giving it a huge advantage over conventional yachts.
Nokia's record was set at an average speed of 15 knots, a pedestrian rate compared to Crichton's vessel.
"To be honest, 15 knots is idling for us.
"We came back from New Zealand a couple of weeks ago and averaged 22 knots on the last day. We hit a high of 32.6 knots.
"If there's a good breeze you could pull 10 hours off the record quite easily ... but, in saying that, we could get a good breeze all the way down then park in the Derwent River for hours."
Weather vagaries aside, Crichton and his crew of 22 are also racing against time to get to grips with a computerised system which has taken a lot of the human element out of their sailing.
"There's a lot more electronics and computers running winches, keels and rudders so there's a lot more technical reasons for things to fail," Crichton said.
There are four super maxis entered in the race. Wellington businessman Stewart Thwaites' Konica Minolta (formerly Zana) is the other New Zealand hope and the fourth super maxi is Victorian entry Skandia, skippered by Grant Wharington.
Crichton thought line honours would be decided between Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats.
Of Oatley's yacht he said: "It's a good boat on paper, and they probably have an advantage there but we've had six months training already so that's an advantage for us.
Other New Zealand yachts confirmed for the race are Viva, skippered by Peter Raudkivi, and the 10.97m Nevenka, a 26-year-old masthead sloop whose skipper, Aucklander Phil Chisholm, is three years younger than the boat.
- NZPA
New Zealand yachtsman Neville Crichton believes his new super maxi Alfa Romeo is capable of slashing 10 hours off the Sydney to Hobart race record if he gets the right weather.
Crichton sent a chill through his rival skippers when making his prediction at yesterday's official launch of the 61st
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