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A fleet of 35 will be on the start line off Nielsen Park in Sydney Harbour on 16 March at 1300 hours for the Sydney Mooloolaba Yacht Race 2005. Racing is sure to be competitive and close with sailors competing for the highly sought after overall handicap trophies, the Point Cartwright trophy for the fastest small boat and the Noakes trophies for boats 60 feet and under, 50 feet and under and 40 feet and under.

Tussling it out at the front end of the fleet will be the 98-foot New Zealand super maxi Konica Minolta leading the charge along with John WOODRUFF (USA) and Eric ROBINSON aboard the Volvo 60 Seriously TEN. Also up there will be Sean LANGMAN's AAPT and David DICKER's Martingale. All are capable of breaking the elusive 11 year race record of 44 hours, 1 minute and 43 seconds set by Brindabella in 1994.

The smaller boats is where a lot of the tightest racing takes place. Anthony PATERSON's (AUS) Mumm 30, Tow Truck, a former overall winner of this race will go up against a second Mumm 30, Immigrant, which was imported last year from the UK by its owners Janet and Jeff PAUL (AUS). The Queensland pair will go into the race with plenty of confidence after a successful campaign at the European Mumm 30 Championships in France. Both Tow Truck and Immigrant will have to watch out for Jamie NEILL's Reichel/Pugh Super 30 The Cone of Silence. She is one of Australia's fastest 30-footers, so fast in fact, that the red-hulled streak finished first in the under 60-foot range in this year's Strathfield Pittwater to Coffs Race.