The goal was 9pm but an 11 O'Clock finish is still a personal best for the crew.

The team are 54th after 2 days and 19 hours in the water. 

Orange's James Sweetapple said the team were having a blast and had just raised the Cargo Road Wines flag.

"It's going really well in very strong conditions," he said. 

"The boat is working to the max."

There has been three days of north-east winds which is a record according to Mr Sweetapple. 

The team is on the east coast of Tasmania. 

Wild Oats XI won its eighth Sydney to Hobart yesterday and fended off a late charge by the brand-new American raider Comanche.

Wild Oats XI crossed the finish line at 3.03pm with an unofficial winning time of 2 days, 2 hours and 3 minutes - outside her 2012 race record of 1 day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds.

SATURDAY, 12.55PM: 

The team on the Quetzalcoatl had a "good start" in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, said team member and Orange man James Sweetapple. 

The boat is placed 71st after almost 24 hours on the water, currently sailing off the south coast of NSW, just past Moruya.

Despite having a drama-free start, the crew found conditions to be tougher once they left the shelter of Sydney Harbour, with "lumpy" water and stiff southerly winds. 

The crew also found a few leaks in the boat's hull, but they have been repaired since.

"On a positive note, the water temperature was 19.5 degrees Celcius, no one was sick and we pulled through with three to four hours sleep," Mr Sweetapple said.

"We are all in good shape and sad to hear of retirements."

There were eight retirements overnight, including supermaxi Perpetual Loyal, who pulled out of the race with hull damage.

FRIDAY, 11.30AM:

JAMES Sweetapple says the weather conditions for this year's Sydney to Hobart yacht race are "brilliant" giving his crew on the Quetzalcoatl a good chance of finishing the race in 80 hours.

Mr Sweetapple spoke to the Central Western Daily two hours before the race's 1pm start and said his crew was excited about the task ahead.

"We're pumped, the weather conditions are brilliant; there will be a southerly that'll be cold, wet and hard but after that we'll have 48 hours of north east winds, "he said.

Mr Sweetapple said the difficult weather early in the race would upset a few competitors with some crews sure to fall victim to sea sickness while others will sustain boat damage.

"I think that we've got the strength and experience to make it all the way," he said.

"We feel ready to go, we've got a good crew and we're ready to break our own record of 84 hours.

"We're ready to roll."

He expects Quetzalcoatl, with his brother Anto Sweetapple at the helm, to reach Hobart at around 10pm on December 29.

Mr Sweetapple said his crew had already raced 15 times this season in the lead up to the Sydney to Hobart, and seven of them had been racing together for seven years.

"Three of them are newish and have only raced with us for one or two years but we all know each other and support each other," he said.

Mr Sweetapple said the boat had been rigged and the food had been loaded several hours before the race's 1pm start time on Friday.

The boat's supplies include 10 kilos of Cargo Road Wine cherries and 10 kilos of Peter Darley's apples, as well as sausages from Michael Borg, Hillside eggs and Trunkey Creek bacon.

tracey.prisk@fairfaxmedia.com.au

THURSDAY:

JAMES Sweetapple says competing in this year’s Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race is not about ticking something off his bucket list, it’s about winning.

Mr Sweetapple, who owns Cargo Road Wines, has been sailing for 40 years but he and his crewmen on the Quetzalcoatl have stepped up their training in the past six months to give them every chance of winning the iconic boat race on handicap.

“The crew has done the race multiple times so we’re approaching it with a view to win [on handicap],” he said.

Mr Sweetapple said the team was so serious about winning it  had used a sports psychologist and undertaken a series of team-building exercises to increase their chance of success.

“We’re doing anything we can do to help us go better, have more fun, more safety and more speed.”

This is Mr Sweetapple’s seventh Sydney to Hobart race and he admits he loves being out in the elements.

“It’s just a small sailboat and a team of men,” he said.

“It’s ropes and sails, brains and brawn.”

Mr Sweetapple said he’d recovered well from a shoulder operation at the beginning of the year and had even dropped his weight to 75 kilograms.

The Sydney to Hobart race begins on Sydney Harbour at 1pm today.

Mr Sweetapple hopes Quetzalcoatl will complete the race in 80 hours.

You can track Quetzalcoatl' Sydney to Hobart progress here