Wild Oats ‘faster than ever’

Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards has declared his famous boat will be faster than ever as it prepares to battle what he rates as the best batch of supermaxi rivals it has ever raced against.

The Oatley family’s boat is to contest its 14th Sydney to Hobart, starting today, but hasn’t added to its record eighth line honours win in 2014.

The boat was retired for two years and was demoted from first to second in 2017 after a protest from Comanche skipper Jim Cooney was upheld after the two boats almost collided shortly after the start.

Richards was bullish about his boat’s prospects after the Christmas Eve weather briefing, with a forecast of north to north easterly breezes of about 15 to 25 knots for most of the first couple of days.

‘‘The boat has always been very fast in a downwind configuration but we’ve done some really nice things this year,’’ Richards said. ‘‘We have to do a good job to be in contention but I think Wild Oats will be pretty hard to hang on to this year.’’

While Richards regards Comanche as the biggest threat to his boat, it also has three other supermaxis to beat. Black Jack and InfoTrack previously won line honours as Alfa Romeo and Perpetual LOYAL respectively and there’s the sole overseas supermaxi in Hong Kong’s Sun Hung Kai Scallywag.

Asked if it was the best quality lineup of supermaxis Wild Oats had raced against, Richards said: ‘‘Without a doubt.’’

Two New Zealand women are on the crew of Wild Oats X. Keryn McMaster and Bianca Cook are part of the first professional allwomen’s crew in the race’s 73-year history.