The Laurie Ford-skippered boat Spirit of Downunder has made the most of excellent sailing conditions to establish an early lead in the Melbourne to Hobart yacht race.
The 20-boat fleet crossed the start line off Portsea without incident on Wednesday then headed for Queenscliff before turning south to head out into Bass Strait.
Eleven boats competing in the Melbourne to Devonport race began at the same time, with catamaran Peccadillo, skippered by Charles Meredith, the first boat from both fleets to clear Port Phillip Heads.
"All went smoothly at the start, which is great because it can be a challenge when one end of your start line is a pier," Ocean Racing Club of Victoria commodore Neville Rose told AAP.
"There's not a lot of room to manoeuvre and it can be very tidal at that end of the bay.
"But it was an absolutely glorious start.
"Spirit of Downunder is doing well as expected ... they're pretty experienced campaigners."
The Hobart fleet will tackle the 440-nautical-mile "Westcoaster" course, which will take crews around the southern tip of Tasmania.
Rose said they should have excellent conditions in the early part of the race.
"We expect the northerly winds to stay in for a little while, which will allow them to make some very good miles across Bass Strait (on Wednesday night)," he said.
"Then they'll abate a little bit so they'll have to make the absolute most of it while it lasts.
"But they're absolutely champagne sailing conditions until then."
Depending on conditions, the lead boats are expected to cross the finish line late on Friday night.
Pre-race favourite Primitive Cool romped to a convincing line honours victory in the Cock of the Bay yacht race on Boxing Day.
