New Zealand's line honours contender in this year's Sydney-Hobart blue-water ocean classic cruised into Sydney Harbour yesterday, unscathed after a transtasman crossing.
The Wellington-built super maxi Zana sliced through the swell as owner Stewart Thwaites looked on from a launch guiding the 30m racer to her berth at Rushcutters Bay.
"I'm reallyhappy, it's been 2 1/2 years in the doing," said Thwaites, who will skipper his "baby" when the 59th edition of Australia's greatest yacht race starts on Boxing Day.
Thwaites won the IRC handicap division with Starlight Express last year, but plans were already under way to challenge for line honours in the 627-nautical-mile race.
Costing about $6 million, the Brent Bakewell-White-designed Zana was launched in October.
The event serves as her maiden ocean race, not that Thwaites is concerned.
"We've done a lot of sailing in a relatively short time," the Wellington property developer said.
"Cook Strait is a pretty good testing ground for a boat like this."
Thwaites said the boat was also tested on a recent trip to Auckland.
"We sailed her hard to Auckland, a distance that is only 100 miles short of the Sydney-Hobart course.
"We got a hammering in 45-55-knot headwinds. But nothing broke and there has been no damage on the delivery trip."
Experienced helmsman Peter Sutton piloted Zana to Sydney and will serve as a watch captain with Stu Bannatyne.
Team New Zealand sailor Cameron Appleton will take charge of the start, where Zana will be looking to avoid any trouble as the 57-strong fleet jockey for position.
Eight crew accompanied Sutton across the Tasman, while the rest of the 24-strong contingent arrive today. The hard work starts at the weekend.
"We've got three 14-hour days of sailing, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, for intensive training and sail evaluation," Thwaites said.
Zana is tied up a stone's throw from its biggest rival - the fleet's other 30m entrant, Victorian Grant Wharington's carbon fibre Skandia.
Although the duel between Zana and Skandia has been promoted in Sydney as a "transtasman clash of the Titans", Thwaites downplayed the race as the Bledisloe Cup on water.
"We're proud to be from New Zealand, but we've got a couple of Australians on board. It's not an Aussie-New Zealand contest."
Sydney-based New Zealander Neville Crichton took Alpha Romeo to line honours last year, but Zana is the first maxi entrant owned by a New Zealand resident since Sir Tom Clark's Buccaneer in the 1970s.
