Minimum time for Maximus

by Rob Kothe on 13 Dec 2006 The third supermaxi aiming for the Rolex Sydney to Hobart startline, 30 metre New Zealand maxi Maximus, owned by Bill Buckley and Charles St Clair Brown will be motoring through Sydney Heads late this afternoon after being unloaded off a container ship in Botany Bay today.

The clock is ticking for Maximus. She missed the CYCA's Big Boat Challenge yesterday, won by Bob Oatley's 2005 Hobart winner Wild Oats XI, ahead of Gtant Wharington's Skandia.

Maximus has sailed the Atlantic, so she had a solid offshore record, but she lacked the power of Wild Oats XI and Alfa Romeo in Europe. She has been shipped Malta, where she contested the Rolex Middle Sea Race, and will motor through the Heads this afternoon, around 5pm, before heading to Woolwich Dock where she will be pulled out of the water tomorrow, Thursday 14 December.

At this stage Maximus is not due to be relaunched until 20 or 21 December, giving the crew just a week to recommission all the boat’s systems and check and test sails before the Boxing Day start of the Rolex ocean classic.

History has been against boats that have not had a lot of time, off Sydney Heads before the Hobart race but skipper Max Brown is postive the second NZL contender will be on the line on time.