By JULIE ASH
Some of the world's best sailors start their battle for the Steinlager-Line 7 Cup in races which start on Wednesday off Hobson Wharf.
The cup is the fourth event in the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour and the focus will be on teamwork and strategy.
Twelve skippers and
their teams will race on a course close to the shore in identical yachts designed by Bruce Farr. The MRX (Match Racing Extraordinary) yachts were built in 1990 by McDell Marine.
Top seed for the event is Magnus Holmberg, of Victory Challenge. Holmberg and his team are ranked first in the world by the International Sailing Federation.
Oracle Racing's Peter Holmberg (no relation) is ranked second, Denmark's Jes Gram Hansen third and Team New Zealand's Dean Barker fourth.
Gavin Brady (Prada), Luc Pillot (France), Ken Read (Stars and Stripes) and Rod Davis (Prada) make up the leading eight.
The top four from the qualifying regatta, which finishes tomorrow, will be added.
Davis won the New Zealand championships last year, which gave him automatic entry into the cup field.
"A lot of us have been so wrapped up with the America's Cup that we haven't had a lot of time to race in the MRXs," he said.
"The guys that come out of the qualifying series will have a nice advantage because they will be familiar with the boats."
He said conditions off Hobson Wharf could be tricky.
"The first couple of days won't necessarily give an indication of who is going to win. I hope it is who is running well at the end because we might not be that quick out of the starting blocks."
The regatta starts on Tuesday with a practice day. The round-robin competition begins on Wednesday, with the finals on Sunday.
