Wild Oats captain Mark Richards with navigator Adrienne Cahalan. Picture: Ross ... - The Australian

Wild Oats captain Mark Richards with navigator Adrienne Cahalan. Picture: Ross Schultz Source: The Australian

WILD Oats XI skipper Mark Richards believes his yacht has every chance of busting his own Rolex Sydney-Hobart race record this year.

Richards set the elapsed time race record of one day 18 hours 40 minutes and 10 seconds in 2005.

The long-range weather forecast issued yesterday by the Bureau of Meteorology predicts a start in abating southerly winds and a strong nor'easter the next morning to push the boats all the way to Tasmania.

At the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney's Rushcutters Bay yesterday, Richards couldn't get the smile off his face.

Wild Oats XI will have to cross the finish line in Hobart before 7.40:09am next Friday to break her own line honours record and, if she does, the yacht could also take the line honours-handicap double.

"We simply want to get to Hobart first - so the record would just be a bonus," Richards said.

"I've always said for the past seven years that the record will be smashed one day by these boats and you just need the right conditions. Wild Oats XI can average well over 25 knots and the record is an average of 14.9 knots, so that gives you an idea.

"When we set the existing record in 2005 we were behind the then record most of the way. We were just trying to beat Alfa Romeo, but it really got fresh the second night and we went from miles behind to sitting in front."

Richards said that to break the record Wild Oats XI would need to be going close to 40 knots on occasions, a speed he said was "fun" in the middle of a black night 60 nautical miles offshore.

"It certainly keeps your eyes open, going at that speed," he said.

The fleet of 77 yachts will start with a spectacular and colourful spinnaker run down Sydney Harbour to the Heads, before they turn into the southerly wind and waves for the first eight to 10 hours.

Duty forecaster at the BOM, Michael Logan, said the strong southerly winds, which he predicted would start on Christmas Day after a very hot Christmas Eve, would start to abate late on Boxing Day and that night swing to the northeast.

Logan said the nor'easter, which would give the supermaxis Wild Oats XI, Ragamuffin-Loyal, Lahana and Wild Thing a "sleigh ride" down the NSW coast and across Bass Strait, could hold at 20 to 25 knots almost until the yachts reached Tasman Island and turned for the stretch across Storm Bay and up the Derwent River.

He said there was then the chance of a westerly change hitting the leading yachts.

Richards said that while a spinnaker start made a great spectator sight, it was very hard work for the crews and he didn't care if he was beaten to the Heads by one of the other supermaxis.

"It doesn't matter if you are first, second or third out the Heads, so long as nothing breaks. It doesn't really bother me, it is who gets to Hobart first that matters," he said. "It is a very favourable forecast and if a southerly front comes through at the other end, it could be a big boat race on handicap too."

Richards said it was a great shame that the US supermaxi Rambler 100, which vied with Wild Oats XI for the title of the world's fastest supermaxi, had never been repaired after capsizing in the 2011 Fastnet Race before it was due to sail to Australia to take part in last year's Sydney-Hobart race.

"It has never been repaired, which is a disaster and a great shame - but it is a sign of the economic times," Richards said.

Wild Oats XI navigator Adrienne Cahalan, who will be making her 21st trip to Hobart, agreed with Richards that there was a "chance" of a new elapsed time record but was rather more circumspect than her skipper.

"It is an exciting forecast but there are a number of transition zones between the weather fronts that have to be negotiated," Cahalan said. "It depends how quickly the nor'easter fills in and what happens in the Derwent."

Sean Langman who will skipper the smallest and oldest yacht in the race, the 30 foot Maluka of Kermandie, said the race was not looking good for the smaller boats in the fleet.

"We hope to be there in time for the fireworks on New Year's Eve," Langman said.