They've tried and tried to knock Mat Belcher off his perch.
Now the Olympic sailing champion's rivals are resorting to espionage and rule bending in a desperate bid to halt his runaway winning streak.
In scenes worthy of a John le Carre novel, competitors have turned up at Belcher's boatshed in the dead of the night, vainly seeking clues to why he's been unbeatable for nearly two years.
Rival coaches have infringed the rules, swerving motor boats about the 470 class sailor and his crewmate Will Ryan in a bid to study their techniques at closer range.
And the Aussie pair expect more mischief this weekend as the 470 world championships begin off La Rochelle, western France.
"We've always got a lot of motorboats following us around the course - boats actually coming onto the racecourse - infringing the rules, just to watch what we're doing," Belcher told AAP.
"There's a lot of spying that goes on.
"We have people come down in the middle of the night to check what we're doing - they're trying to find some sort of secret as to why we're a lot faster."
But there's no secret, Belcher insists.
No James Bond-style jet packs or magnetic watches.
Just hard work.
And great coaching.
Yet still the spies persist.
"The more you're doing well, the more people want to know," the sailor added.
"Doing well" is an understatement for what Belcher has achieved over the past 20 months, both with former crew Malcolm Page and now Ryan.
The 30-year-old from the Gold Coast has won all 16 regattas he's contested since November 2011.
The streak includes two world titles (La Rochelle would be his fourth straight), seven World Cup rounds, the recent European championships and the 2012 Olympic 470 gold medal with Page.
That such a long run has come in sailing makes it all the more impressive, because the sport's combatants fight nature as much as each other.
Belcher admits his rivals are now "sick" of his streak.
But their hopes of ending it in the Bay of Biscay may end in dismay.
Because the 62kg, 173cm skipper loves La Rochelle - the little rock.
It was there in 2000 that Belcher, aged just 17 and still at school, won his first world title in the 420 youth class.
It was his breakthrough performance.
Within days he was ushered into the senior national set-up and later handed the honour of carrying the Olympic flag at the Sydney Games closing ceremony.
It was a whiff of Games greasepaint.
Belcher was hooked. Addicted to winning.
Now we'll see if the sailing spies can break his habit.
