This year's Sydney to Hobart yacht race could be one of the most exciting in recent history, according to the super-maxi skippers battling for line honours.
More than 100 yachts will start in a light easterly breeze today.
2016 Sydney to Hobart winner Perpetual Loyal, skippered by Anthony Bell. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The wind is forecast to swing to the north-east and strengthen as the boats track down the New South Wales coast.
Four super maxis - Wild Oats XI, Black Jack, Comanche and InfoTrack - will contest the race.
Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards has predicted an "excellent" race between the 100-footers.
"You've basically got the four fastest hundred-footers on the planet in the race, which I think is an amazing feat in itself," Richards said.
The north-easterly winds will mean plenty of downwind sailing, which is expected to favour Jim Cooney's Comanche.
A potential race record is also on the cards.
Renowned yachting meteorologist Roger Badham says if the outlook remains stable, the first boat could reach the finish line on Hobart's Derwent River in about one day and nine hours, more than four hours inside the record time set by Perpetual LOYAL last year.
The supermaxi quartet could notch speeds of up to 35 knots as they sail south and are pushed along by north-northeasterly winds possibly gusting to more than 30 knots.
All four supermaxis in the fleet of 102 have taken line honours but three of them this year are under new ownership, the exception being eight-time line honours winner Wild Oats XI.
The mid-sized TP 52 and Cookson 50 boats are expected to be among the handicap leaders.
The oldest entrant, 87-year-old American boat Dorade, contains Australian navigator Adrienne Cahalan, who will extend her record to 26 for the most Sdyney-to-Hobart races by a woman.
The fleet includes a race record-equalling international contingent of 27 boats, 11 of them attached to the Clipper Round the World race, which includes the Sydney-to-Hobart as a leg of their event.
There are two New Zealand registered teams taking part, Seamo Racing Mahligai and Ran Tan 2.
-AAP
