Sailing superstars Stan Honey and Iain Murray have swapped big boats for this year's Sydney to Hobart race, with the latter having sailed on all four supemaxis entered.
Australian Murray, the sailing master aboard Andoo Comanche, was an integral part of the Wild Oats XI program run by the Oatley family during its record run of nine line-honours victories since 2005.
American Honey, the navigator on Hamilton Island Wild Oats, formerly Wild Oats XI, has a success rate of over 50 per cent in the Sydney to Hobart, taking line honours four times in seven races, including Comanche's wins in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Honey's services are coveted by the owners of many of the sport's most famous boats, which has meant him racing at different times on all of the supermaxis which will contest the race starting on Boxing Day.
He sailed on Black Jack over a decade ago when it was known as Alfa Romeo and owned by Neville Crichton.
Honey enjoyed his first Hobart line-honours victory in 2011 on the Anthony Bell-owned Investec Loyal, which now races as LawConnect
"That was a bit of an upset that we managed to beat Wild Oats in that race because Wild Oats was quite a bit quicker," Honey said.
"I was the first navigator on Speedboat with her original owner and Speedboat is now LawConnect.
"I did all the events for her for a season or two and then I was the first navigator on Comanche."
Honey said it was a huge honour to be asked to be the navigator on Hamilton Island Wild Oats this year.
"Ricko (Oats skipper Mark Richards) called me up and asked me to do a previous race which they then withdrew from and then of course there was the cancelled (Sydney-Hobart) race (in 2020)," Honey said.
"I've been standing by hoping for the opportunity to navigate Oats, for I think three years now."
Murray's switch to Andoo Comanche came about after he worked with the boat's current skipper John Winning Jr while Oats didn't race following her 2019 Sydney Hobart victory up until this year.
"I haven't had much to do with Oats for a few years now because it hasn't raced and so I've been very tied up with Herman (Winning) and his skiff over the same period," Murray said.
"I rang Sandy (Oatley) and I rang Ricko and said it's an opportunity I'd like to pursue and Sandy was fine.
"Sandy and I have owned substantial businesses together, we've done a lot of things together and we're good friends, so there wan't any bad feelings on the behalf of Sandy."
Murray felt intimate knowledge of a rival boat wasn't necessarily an advantage.
"Not really, the boats are so different, they have to sail their boat their way and we have to sail our boat our way," Murray said.
"Stan (Honey) knows more about our boat than any man on the planet, but is that going to help him sail Wild Oats? Probably not."
