THE next yacht to win the Rolex Sydney to Hobart could be locally built Ragamuffin 100.
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Mark Rowed and his team from South Nowra’s Innovation Composites spent six months building a 30 metre long carbon fiber yacht for Australia’s most successful offshore sailor Syd Fischer.
Mr Rowed said it took a team of more than 15 employees 15,000 hours to build the yacht.
Mr Rowed said it was exciting to think the yacht would compete against the likes of Wild Oats XI.
“We’ve never built a boat this size before,” he said.
“We’ve built a new hull and internal structure from the design Syd had for us.
“We are one of the few places in NSW that can do carbon fiber work of this scale and we had done work for him in the past, but we are still excited he asked us to build it for him.”
Race favourite Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards said Fischer’s rebuilt Ragamuffin 100 stands as a serious threat.
"Syd is a dark horse for this race," Richards told Fairfax Media.
Not that Richards downplays the challenge for Fischer with his largely untested, rebuilt boat having undergone late repairs for structural problems with the deck.
Ragamuffin 100 has a new hull on which is attached the heavily modified deck of the Ragamuffin 100 that Fischer sailed in last year's Sydney to Hobart to third place and used to be Bell's Investec Loyal, which won line honours in 2011.
It also has a new keel with a six-metre depth, is water-ballasted and has twin rudders, a six-metre beam and has been refitted with the rig from the previous Ragamuffin.
"It's a tough forecast for their first race," Richards said.
Fischer is typically buoyant, declaring: "I think 'Rags' will hold together. The weather is variable. It just depends how it comes in.
"But we are not worried about it. We have covered the bases and the boat is ready for all kinds of weather."
Asked how hard he will sail her into the southerly forecast to hit the fleet of 117 boats late on Friday, Fischer said with a laugh: "As hard as we can without breaking it.
"It's a fairly light boat. It's had its little problems. We fixed them, luckily. But I think it will hold together. It's pretty slippery through the water."
