44 Metres and 1000 kg (2240 lbs) of Early Christmas Present

2:15 PM Mon 21 Dec 2009 GMT

'Grant Wharington checks Etihad Stadium's new mast before it's offloaded from delivery aircraft in Sydney' &copy Rolex/Daniel Forster

Just after 9pm last night, an early Christmas present arrived for Grant Wharington and the Etihad Stadium Supermaxi crew when a Qantas flight from Singapore touched down at the Freight Terminal at Mascot.

On board was a package of precious cargo that has had a long journey from a boat yard in La Cioat in the South of France, via Brussels and Singapore to Sydney, where work kicked off at a determined pace to have Project Start Line achieve its objectives.

As soon as the 25 metre truck drove into the gates at Sydney City Marine just after 1am, the boys from Hart Marine were very quick to get it secured on the mast trolleys and unwrapped.

All Grant and his crew want for Christmas, apart from some quality time with their families, is to have a 44 metre mast secured in the deck of the 98 footer, and for it to be race ready for the 1pm cannon signalling the start of the 65th Rolex Sydney to Hobart.

For Grant, it will be his 24th start in the world renowned race, and one that felt like an impossible dream a week ago.

"It's been quite a journey" he said, exhausted, but clearly relieved that everything has arrived and that work is well underway on making the dream a reality.

"The next 24 hours will be absolutely critical, and we've got the Southern Spars team and the boys from Hart Marine working around the clock for us - it's going to be tight, but we're all busting our guts to get there " he said.

"A number of the crew have been hard at work all night at a sail loft to make adjustments to the mainsail to fit onto the replacement mast, and we're steadily ticking off a wide range of things that all combine to just keep getting us closer and closer to the start line" he said.

Whilst not wanting to commit to any hard and fast timelines for getting the mast into the deck of the boat, Grant is anticipating that it might be ready to be craned into position early on the morning of Christmas Eve.

by Jody O'Brien

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