Shane Kearnes, the man at the helm of Quikpoint Azzurro an S&S 34 yacht, says the size of a boat is not indicative of the crew's talent nor their ability to win.

"We don't really think of ourselves as small, our world is the boat and there's six of us, so it's all relative ... the sailing is exactly the same [as it would be on a bigger boat] and the procedures, so we don't see ourselves as the smallest – we see ourselves as a boat," Kearnes said at the launch of the race on Tuesday.

The 2015 race will have four super-maxi yachts, and a record 28 international entries in the 110-strong field for the 71st running of the event.

Kearnes says regardless of boat size "everybody's got to do exactly the same stuff to get to Hobart".

Azzurro has already won an ocean race this year, the Sydney to Gold Coast, in July. Kearnes refers to this race as a pivotal point saying "we were lucky enough to win and that was against the 100-footers [super maxis] ...so that was really good. So we know we can do it."

Kearnes says the crew is prepared and know the boat "and like every other boat, just [need] a bit of weather luck to go your way".

"The handicaps bring us all back to level," he said. "Like Mark Richards [skipper of the Wild Oats XI], if he finishes in two days, his handicap makes his finish time four days. For us, whatever our finish time is, you multiply it by 0.9 and we're less. It's a bit more level."

His expectations for this year's race would be a better finish than last year's first outing, coming 33rd out of 117 overall, aiming for "a top-10 finish on handicap, I'd be happy".

"This year I think we're a lot more prepared, and I'd be happy with a top-10 finish if not winning."

Richards has labelled American entry Comanche as his biggest threat to winning the Sydney to Hobart for an unprecedented ninth time.

Richards will take last year's line-honour's winner out next week for her first race since a radical makeover in a bid to keep up with their in-form super-maxi rival.

It was only four months ago that Comanche, who finished just 49 minutes behind Wild Oats in Hobart last year, broke the monohull 24-hour sailing world record – notching up 618 nautical miles, while averaging 25.75 knots, during the Trans Atlantic Race.

And the 100-footer will be 500 kilograms lighter this time after shedding 20 per cent of her crew.

"No question Comanche's going to be the one to beat," Richards said.

"She wrapped up the 24-hour world record this year. If she gets the conditions, she'll be very tough to beat."

Wild Oats underwent almost $2 million worth of alterations, including taking 11 metres from the front and two metres off the back of the boat while a 13-metre bow section was added.

"It's pretty radical stuff," Richards said.