Fears that yachts in the annual Cock of the Bay race on Boxing Day would be slowed by light winds have eased.
The 85-yacht fleet will hit the start line off Port Melbourne's Station Pier at 10.30am on Tuesday with leading boats to cross the finish line off Blairgowrie later that afternoon.
"It was looking like winds were going to be very light on Boxing Day but the forecast has improved," Ocean Racing Club of Victoria commodore Neville Rose told AAP.
"We were a bit concerned earlier in the week that they might struggle to finish by the timeline, but it's looking (better).
"But I don't think the race record will be in danger this year."
The 34-nautical-mile course hugs the coastline from Port Melbourne to St Kilda and Sandringham before the fleet heads further out into Port Phillip Bay.
Primitive Cool, skippered by John Newbold, is the favourite to take out the race that is a precursor to the Melbourne to Hobart and Melbourne to Devonport races that start off Portsea on Wednesday.
The Melbourne to Hobart fleet will tackle the 440-nautical-mile 'Westcoaster' course that will take crews around the southern tip of Tasmania.
This year's race serves as a qualifier for the double-handed (or two crew member) Melbourne-Osaka Cup that will take place in March next year.
Last year's winner, Cadibarra 8, won't take part, but winning skipper Paul Roberts has joined Chris Barlow on last year's second-place getter Lord Jiminy.
"They are going to be pretty hard to beat," Rose said.
"We've got 20 boats in the Melbourne-Hobart this year (up from 10 last year) and 10 of those are double-handed.
"But part of the challenge with this year's race is that a few of the double-handed boats aren't Melbourne-based ocean racing yachts so we don't have a lot of intel on them."
Depending on conditions, the lead boats are expected to cross the finish line late on Friday night.
