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Skipper Christian Beck claims he'll do absolutely nothing to help his yacht LawConnect win the Sydney to Hobart, a strategy worked fine last time.
LawConnect skipper Christian Beck is going to prepare for the Sydney to Hobart by changing nappies and helping with midnight feeds.
That might be for the best: the tech mogul, a self-described "sailing bullshitter", did the same last year and his 100ft supermaxi crossed the finish line before any other boat.
At least this time, Beck knows what he's getting himself into.
"My wife just had another baby so I've got two babies at home so I'm dealing with two babies, and that's all I'm really worried about," he told AAP of his preparations for the big race.
"Last year, (having a newborn) totally stuffed up my training and prep for the race, but then we did better than ever. I think I learnt that realistically, the less I do, the better the boat goes.
"We've got another baby this year so I'm doing nothing this year either. You never know, it might work again!"
Beck is LawConnect's owner and figurehead, so oversees and funds any alterations to her out of the water.
But during the Hobart, he'll leave the tactics to his crew of 15 professional sailors - slightly smaller than the 18 carried by line honours favourite Master Lock Comanche.
Ahead of the starting gun on Boxing Day, LawConnect is preparing for another tussle with Comanche, the boat she beat to Constitution Dock by only 51 seconds last year.
"It's really the pro sailors (that make a difference). Basically, I'm a sailing bullshitter. All I really do is do things like this (media interviews)," Beck said.
Tony Mutter is the head of LawConnect's professional crew, and Beck is wise to leave things in his hands.
The New Zealander is one of the race's most experienced hands, and was sailing master when LawConnect - then Perpetual LOYAL - set a new race record in 2016.
But Beck fears Comanche's new co-skippers James Mayo and Matt Allen have cottoned onto his winning strategy of sitting back and doing as little work as possible.
"The trouble is, the Comanche guys are doing nothing, either. The two skippers on Comanche, they're not steering or anything," he said.
"They're sailing bullshitters too."
A difficult race with varying conditions will suit LawConnect best, with Comanche likely to outpace her in heavy, downwind conditions.
But a suite of new sails purchased this year has helped LawConnect's chances of keeping up; the boat's new sails are 10 to 20 per cent lighter.
"We're now going faster than we've ever been," Mutter told AAP.
"We're good in that respect but the other guys have stepped up their game as well.
"They look like they're sailing better than they have in the past. That makes it harder."
As for the secret to claiming back to back line honours wins, Beck is still trying to figure that one out in between dad duties.
"If we knew that we wouldn't be so stressed. We're a bit stressed," he said.
