After breaking equipment in a Sydney-to-Hobart warm-up race, Hong Kong supermaxi Scallywag hasn’t spent much time on the water. Instead skipper David Witt’s careful gaze has been trained on his competition in the 100-foot category.

“The only boat to beat is Wild Oats XI. Beat Oats and you win,” said Witt, a veteran of more than 20 skirmishes to Hobart. Asked why last year’s champion Comanche shouldn’t be given the same consideration, Witt is quick to dismiss their win last year as a technicality.

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“I’m sick of hearing about Comanche. As far as I am concerned they’ve only won one race. You don’t win a boat race with a protest. They’ve won one, Oats has won eight. What does the form guide tell you?”

Last year’s protest by Comanche, which saw Wild Oats XI stripped of the line honours and race record, remains a sore point for some ahead of this year’s 628 nautical mile race to Constitution Dock. However the non-traditional victory didn’t mar the celebrations for Comanche’s skipper, Jim Cooney.

“I am enormously proud of last year’s effort,” he said. “We were the first boat across the line that hadn’t broken a rule, and that is a line honours win. There is nothing taking anything away from last year for me. Back to back is a huge achievement, I am hopeful,” he said. The race record holder has an unlikely ally, in the boat she bested for Australia’s top offshore prize.

“You look at the trophy and Comanche won the race last year it is as simple as that. We respect that, there is absolutely no issue at all,” said Wild Oats XI’s skipper, Mark Richards. The eight-time line honours helmsman admits the past three years, which resulted in two retirements, have hurt Wild Oats XI. “The monkey has been well and truly entrenched, I’ve been trying to wrestle it off big time this year,” Richards said. “This is the most suitable year of weather for Wild Oats XI in the last 14 years of the race.”

Of the enlisted 85 yachts due to start on Boxing Day the handicap win looks like it will be settled mid-fleet. “If I was going to put a bet on, which I won’t, I would be looking at the 60 to 70-foot range,” said Queensland entrant Black Jack’s sailing master, Mark Bradford.

While defending handicap winner Ichi Ban falls just outside of that range her skipper remains hopeful of defending the crown, despite history being against them. The 52-footer, which translates to “number one” in Japanese, has had an incredible 12 months on the water and will be the front-marker in the battle for the Tattersalls Cup. “We have had a great season. We have placed first or second in every regatta we have entered,” said helmsman Mark Allen, “We’re really looking forward to the conditions.

This year’s race also features an entrant hoping to promote an environmental message. Ocean Respect Racing has assembled an experienced crew, including Volvo Ocean racers, for this edition to spread awareness about the state of the sea. “The harsh reality is when you are out on the water you see the debris and plastic floating around,” said celebrated mariner Dee Caffari, who will race on Ocean Respect.

“The reality now is it is degrading and breaking down to microplastic. The habits we have on land have a massive environmental impact.”

This year will also mark the 20th anniversary of the 1998 race, in which six sailors died. Paul Billingham, the Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club said there had been a lot of discussion about to how best pay tribute. “It is a significant milestone – we have had uppermost in our minds for the year how best to honour and recognise that and we have listened to the families,” he said. “We have decided to do an understated but respectful recognition of those who lost their lives.” The result is a scheduled radio broadcast for 27 December, which will echo the words of the dockside memorial service held two decades ago.

While the commodore paid tribute to the safety improvements in the past two decades, he did underline the continued risks associated with the odyssey to Hobart. “You can never be totally satisfied with everything that has been done. We do all that we can possibly think of. We follow world’s best practice – in fact we lead best practice – in making this race as safe as it can be, but at the end of the day ocean racing is an inherently dangerous sport,” he said.

The 74th edition of the race will start at 1pm on 26 December, with a weather forecast pointing to sunny skies and a 10-knot east-north-easterly breeze.