Davies on board the other Skandia

Sam Davies gives her reactions to sailing on Grant Wharington's supermaxi at Skandia Geelong Race Week

The perfect record continues for Grant Wharington’s supermaxi Skandia as she recorded her second and third wins in this series on Port Phillip today in the 2004 Skandia Geelong Week.

Since her October launch the super maxi has remained unchallenged and its clear she will record her 20th win in the series tomorrow.

Racing on board Skandia is Sam Davies who gave her impressions of sailing on the maxi. "A really cool boat, really well laid out with great deck gear. She’s really easy to sail, mind you the crew was a big part of that, they are all class and made it simple.

"The canting keel is great, it reminded me a lot of my little Mini-Transat boat, a 21 footer, with a similar canting keel arrangement. With both boats, you can feel these boats really powering up.

"The powered winches on Skandia mean that boat handling is easy, and everyone can just concentrate on sailing. I drove a little today, the helm is very responsive, adjustable for angle of heel.

"Actually it was fun to watch it from the opposite perspective. Yesterday I sailed Skandia Contribution, the Tasmanian campaigned Quetzacoatl, a 40 footer we saw Skandia sail past us at the start and she looked awesome.

"Today, aboard the 98 footer Skandia, I could see how challenging it was for the helmsman to pick a spot on the startline. Its tough to get a good start because of the speed differentials, the helmsman has to predict what is going to happen in 20 seconds time.

Tomorrow, Saturday morning January 24th, Premier Steve Bracks will fire the starting cannon from the Tall Ship Young Endeavour, for the 09.30am start of the Williamstown to Geelong race, a feature of Skandia Geelong Week.

The 2003 Sydney to Hobart line honours winner Skandia is expected to lead the massive 300-boat fleet away from the start line. Accompanied by tall ships and a large spectator fleet, Port Phillip will be witness to an Australia Day long weekend sailing spectacular.

Australia's super maxi Skandia is expected to be the first yacht to reach Geelong. Conditions will determine the race duration. The monohull record for the 34 nm course stands at 2hrs 32 mins 13 seconds and is held by Australia Skandia Wild Thing.