Comanche owners Jim Clark and wife Kristy Hinze-Clark are considering a return to next year's Sydney to Hobart, which two-time America's Cup winner James Spithill believes would put the race record under serious threat.
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Spithill helped crew the American yacht to a line honours win in last year's Sydney to Hobart, taking full advantage of the ripped mainsail that forced Wild Oats XI into an early retirement.
A favourable weather forecast is suggesting Wild Oats XI is capable of breaking the record it set in the race four years ago, with predictive models last week suggesting it could fall by more than three hours.
But as good as the eight-time line-honours victors are, Spithill feels Comanche is capable of raising the Sydney to Hobart bar even higher.
"In my mind the boat has got the record written all over it, if it gets the right conditions, it'll blow the record apart," Spithill told Fairfax Media.
"It's an incredible machine. Having done the last couple of races with them ... they've really assembled some of the best guys in the world, guys that have won round-the-world ocean racing, backgrounds from multiple world champions, America's Cup, one of the best teams I think out there in off-shore sailing.
"They've got an incredible boat, the latest technology. It'll be good to come down here and see it give Wild Oats a run."
With no Comanche in this year's Sydney to Hobart, Spithill will be watching the race from the comfort of the lounge room as he continues to recover from multiple elbow surgeries.
Early next year he'll ramp up preparations with Oracle Team USA ahead of their America's Cup defence in June aboard their yet to be launched AC50 – a boat 22 feet shorter than the vessel they sailed to victory in 2013.
The multihull boats of the America's Cup are capable of tearing through the water at 50 knots, and it's a concept Spithill hopes to one day see in the Sydney to Hobart.
"It's just a matter of time before they allow multihulls in the Sydney to Hobart race, I mean in my mind, who doesn't want to go faster," Spithill said.
"We faced a lot of traditionalists and people dead against going to multihulls and foiling. Once people saw it and experienced it, the amount of new fans we have now because it's so exciting and visual, and there's some risk there, I mean there's no turning back.
"You talk about race records for a monohull for a Sydney to Hobart race. If and when multihulls are introduced, then we'll see some records.
"You're not taking away, I think it's just adding a different class and a different discipline that's out there. It's just a matter of time."
