Oli the cat won hearts and minds racing in last year's Sydney to Hobart, but veterinarian Sam Haynes has declared his boat Celestial V70 as the vessel for dog lovers to get behind this time.
Haynes will stop short of welcoming a canine pal on board from Boxing Day, though.
Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, which administers the Sydney to Hobart, Haynes had planned on missing the 2024 race after selling the boat he skippered to overall victory in 2022 - a TP52 also named Celestial.
But when Sydney to Hobart legend Jim Cooney approached him with an offer to lease his Volvo 70 Willow, Haynes rapidly reconsidered and began calling around Celestial's old crew.
"We race with the same number of people. It's a very, very similar crew to what I normally carry on the Celestial TP. We're going with 14 or 15 to Hobart," Haynes told AAP.
The crew have only the Cabbage Tree Island Race that begins on Friday, and next week's Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour, to familiarise themselves with the new boat's extra bells and whistles.
There are bigger sails, hydraulics and a canting keel to handle, not to mention an extra 18 feet of length as compared to the old Celestial.
But the ultimate prize beckons if conditions are heavy and the crew can find their chemistry; boats of a similar size were the top performers on handicap last year.
"If it's windy, probably from almost any direction, that's in our favour," Haynes said.
Hoping to reclaim the Tattersall Cup, Haynes will have a crowd of supporters cheering, or woofing, from dry land.
Haynes welcomed a pack of pooches to his mooring on Friday ahead of his first hit-out in charge of the boat. The sailing veterinarian has been an animal lover from a young age.
"I've always had lots and lots of pets, obviously dogs and cats and things like that," said Haynes, who founded Sydney Animal Hospitals in 1990.
"I kept a lot of birds, but I was also the guy that would have a pet lizard or caterpillars or would find a spider when I was very small. Frogs, you name it. I had lots and lots of animals in my life."
On Friday, he and the Celestial crew passed on a cheque for $20,000 to Assistance Dogs Australia, with Haynes and Sydney Animal Hospitals raising the funds in the lead-up to the race.
"Being a veterinarian, I've always seen the value of animals in people's lives but particularly when you look at an assistance dog," he said.
"This is the dog lovers' boat and there's a lot of dog lovers in Australia, as we know."
Cat people gushed over Bob Williams' feline friend Oli when he sailed abord Sylph VI last year.
But Haynes said it would be more challenging to bring a dog on the 630-nautical mile journey to Constitution Dock.
"You definitely would not be able to take a dog to Hobart," he said.
" It'd be unfair on the dog."
