Renowned light air supermaxi Black Jack is set to perform better in heavier winds in the Sydney to Hobart after modifications to the boat.
The Queensland boat, a prime contender for line honours, is one of the few in recent times to get the better of a battle with Comanche.
She capitalised on favourable conditions in the latter stages of this year's Sydney to Southport race to beat rival supermaxis and fellow Sydney to Hobart contender Comanche, Wild Oats XI and InfoTrack.
While those boats have traditionally had the wood on Black Jack in heavier breezes, skipper Mark Bradford is confident changes to his boat will make it more competitive in those conditions.
"We identified in the last Hobart race some significant weaknesses in our yacht," Bradford told AAP.
"So while our plan is to always be the strongest light air boat, we're prepared to give a bit of that back to get back at the Wild Oats and Comanche-style boats in mid range.
'We've increased the righting moment in the boat, changed the layout in the boat, making special sails.
"There's been a lot going on to improve our boat in the mid range for sure and the upper range.
"There's no free lunch, but I think the way we've done it we've held onto our light air strength."
Owner Peter Harburg pointed out Black Jack's performance in last year's Hobart, when she finished third across the line in conditions which didn't favour her, wasn't too shabby.
'We can perform in heavy weather and in the last Hobart we broke the old (race) record," Harburg said
"But in stronger winds other boats are more in their sweet spot. Our sweet spot is in lower winds.
"A touch of light weather would help us a lot."
Black Jack, which took Sydney to Hobart line honours in 2009 as Alfa Romeo, has plenty of top-end talent in her crew.
Navigator Tom Addis, Australian Olympian Anthony Nossiter and New Zealand's America's Cup star Brad Butterworth are all aboard.
Bradford rates the talent spread across the fleet, and especially the five supermaxis, very highly.
"The calibre of the people that are sailing this year, if you spend some time and got around and really got your teeth into who is on the water, it's pretty high end," Bradford said.
"I'd challenge it to be the best group of sailors to be involved in - this is going to be a risky comment - in offshore sailing for some years.
"These five supermaxis this year have got some real depth on board every boat."
