For years Black Jack owner Peter Harburg has watched Wild Oats XI sail off into the distance en route to Hobart, admiring its ability to cut a speedy path through the waves when there is little wind to speak of.
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So when the opportunity to buy a super maxi arose earlier this year, he was keen to secure a hull that was similar to that of the eight-time Sydney To Hobart winner.
He settled on the yacht formerly known as Alfa Romeo, the boat that beat Wild Oats XI to line honours in 2009 before it was sold to European interests and renamed Esimit Europa.
Now, in his seventh Sydney To Hobart, Harburg has his first genuine opportunity to take line honours spoils. And if Tuesday's Big Boat Challenge win over Wild Oats XI is anything to go by, Black Jack is going to give this year's Ocean Classic an almighty shake.
"We bought that hull because it was so similar to Wild Oats," Harburg said.
"We just felt it was better for the racing that I've experienced in Australia, there's quite a bit of time in light weather.
"If they weren't here we still would've gone that way. The result of Oats being here and us being here is that it's very close racing and that's what we do it for, isn't it."
Last year's winner Perpetual Loyal will make the journey again as Infotrack after Anthony Bell sold the boat to software supremo Sydney To Hobart rookie Christian Beck.
LDV Comanche is the other serious contender – the 2015 winner which changed hands on Thursday when Sydney sailing veteran Jim Cooney finalised the purchase of the yacht from American Jim Clark.
The boat didn't contest last year's record-breaking Sydney To Hobart, but the general consensus is Comanche and its wide hull would have finished hours ahead of Perpetual Loyal.
"Sailing has become like anything, highly technical and you can have a narrow hull or you can have a big wide Comanche style hull," Harburg said.
"Last year if Comanche had have been here it would've been six hours in front of Loyal. The year before or the year before that I think it was, Oats beat Comanche because it was light.
"You can't get a boat for all seasons. You've got to get a boat that will work in some conditions and not in others.
"We had to make a choice, Comanche as everyone would know was for sale. We chose this hull because we had a 66 [footer] which was the smaller version of this and we loved it so we thought this was a good one to work on."
Mark Bradford will skipper Black Jack in what will be his 11th crack at the race, and has assembled a stellar crew with almost 150 Sydney To Hobarts between them.
"It's a fantastic crew, Mark's organised all that, he's been brilliant," Harburg said.
"We believe it could easily be Comanche, us and Oats arriving at the Tasman Light [Island] together and turn up Storm Bay together, that could easily be the case.
"The race will not be over until the first one, then second, then third cross the finish line. That's provided we all get there and don't have any breakages or any problems.
"All four hundreds [hundred footers] have won the race under different names. This is the world championship of ocean racing, in my opinion it's the four fastest hundred footers in the world. This is the toughest race on the planet, maybe the Fastnet but this is one of the toughest races on the planet."
