Andoo Comanche's former co-owner regards the supermaxi as the yacht to beat for line honours in this year's Sydney to Hobart race after getting a close-up look at the boat on her return to Australian racing.
Jim Cooney, who enjoyed two line honours wins on the formidable boat in 2017 and 2019, sold her to Russian interests after that latter triumph.
Australian John Winning Jr has chartered the yacht for the next two years and will campaign in the 2022 and 2023 Hobart races.
The celebrated boat, which also took line honours in the 2015 Sydney to Hobart, has lived up to her latest skipper's name, claiming line honours in most of the lead-up races she has contested since returning Australia.
She was first across the line in the Sydney-Gold Coast, Tollgate Islands, Cabbage Tree Island and Big Boat Challenge events and all four of the Australian maxi championship races, though she was disqualified from one of the latter
The only other glitch in an otherwise impressive campaign was being forced to retire from the Bird Island race with a broken hydraulic hose.
Cooney, who is now campaigning the 70-foot Willow, which has raced against Andoo Comanche and some of his old crew in recent weeks, said he missed being on the boat, describing it as "a magnificent" piece of machinery.
"It's every bit as impressive as it was when I was on it," Cooney told AAP.
"I think it's a fabulous boat, it's a head-turner no matter where it is, so really exciting to see the boat out there and nice to see it back in Australia."
Asked if it was the one to beat for line honours, Cooney said: "I think so. It's still got the pace over everything except in the very light conditions. The same as it always was."
"In the years that we had it, we reduced its achilles heel threshold from nine knots down to about five knots, so it's a much more able boat now than it was when we first took over.
"But still If you get down to that five-or-six knot range the skinny boats will be quicker than Comanche."
Winning said he and his crew couldn't get complacent and comfortable because that's when mistakes happened and the disqualification earlier this week occurred after his boat came perilously close to colliding with fellow supermaxi LawConnect.
He said they were still trying to fully understand their boat and one of the biggest issues was improving communications among the crew.
Cooney empathised with Winning at Tuesday's post-race Big Boat Challenge media conference over how tough it was to communicate across such a long boat.
"I understand what you're talking about, low side (to the), high side it's nine metres apart. It's pretty hard to make yourself heard," Cooney said.
