Speedy Sydney-to-Hobart supermaxi LDV Comanche has switched owners less than two weeks before the race.
The 2015 line honours winner and record-breaking boat was bought on Thursday by Sydney's Jim Cooney from American Jim Clark.
Veteran yachtsman Neville Crichton was scheduled to skipper the boat in this year's race but will only be aboard if Cooney doesn't go to Hobart.
Cooney has previously contested the race in the 70-foot Maserati and former line honours winner and maxi Brindabella.
"LDV Comanche is a truly awe-inspiring yacht and the chance to race to Hobart, alongside my children Julia and James with a world-class crew, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity too good to pass up," Cooney said.
"I started ocean racing 30 years ago and we have raced as a family in many parts of the world for 12 years.
"But this is an incredible opportunity for us to challenge for the world's toughest blue-water classic."
Crichton will still be involved in training the boat's star-studded crew.
Among those on board will be America's cup winner Jimmy Spithill, 11-time winner of the Transpac Race and round-the-world race winner Stan Honey, numerous other sailors with Olympic, round-the-world and Sydney-to-Hobart experience, and former NSW Waratahs prop Jeremy Tilse.
The yacht holds the 24-hour distance record for monohulls and the trans-Atlantic crossing record.
As well as the 2015 Sydney-to-Hobart, she has taken line honours in the Fastnet Race and this year smashed the monohull record in the Transpac.
With Cooney campaigning on LDV Comanche, he has withdrawn Maserati from the race.
The fleet now stands at 104 and the international contingent is 28, which is a race record.
