Maximus fine tuning for Rolex Sydney Hobart

by Jim Gale on 22 Dec 2006 At the end of their first day back in the water, Charles St Clair Brown, co-owner of the New Zealand 30m maxi Maximus said that there was still a lot of fine tuning to do on the boat before Boxing Day, and he anticipated the boat will spend the next three days out on the water.

'Sadly we had commitments to my partner's clients today so we had to make it part of a corporate day, so really we haven't done a lot of sailing,' he said. 'We had enough time to just pull a couple of sails up and try and tune the rig a little bit we've got a lot more to do there. A hell of a lot more.'

'We've made some adjustments to the rig for this particular race so we have to retune it all. But our crew is pretty used to this boat. It's not like we have to do a lot of things with crew training. It’s more about making sure the boat is properly prepared.'

Brown said that even though the early forecast is for heavy conditions, far from ideal for the 30 metre maxis he was confident Maximus would hold up.

'This is an ocean race and we've got to be able to handle those sorts of conditions, but with strong southerlies and a southerly set, it's going to be hard on the boats. It’s going to be hard on every boat. It's going to be about keeping the boat together and sailing it conservatively, playing the percentage game.'

Brown concedes though that the forecast favours the Volvo 70s: 'I think it's an ideal forecast for the Volvo 70s, they're round the world racers. The problem with these big yachts (the 30 metre maxis) is slowing them down when the big waves start.'

Brown said the biggest disappointment for him is that Maximus will not threaten the race record. 'The sad thing is it's decidedly not a record breaking forecast and our goal for this boat was to create race records. We're not going to have a chance to do that.

'Our goal is not to win it on rating, that's not what we built this boat for. It’s all about line honours. If you build a maximum length yacht you shouldn't have to worry about rating, it's all about who gets there first.

Brown said he and Wild Oats XI can expect a serious challenge from Skandia.

'Skandia has been completely reconfigured, she has a slightly bigger main than we have, new mast and new keel. There's no reason why Skandia won’t go just as fast.'