100ft Comanche Races 13.9ft Lasers on Sydney Harbour.

"Last week, it was just the 100ft Comanche against a fleet of tiny little lasers…
It's just hours before the start of the 2015 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, when Comanche, Wild Oats XI and Ragamuffin 100 will be locked in a fierce battle for line honours in the race across Bass Straight.

But last week, while training off Sydney Harbour, Comanche and Ragmuffin 100 had the racing all but sewn up. Sharing the water with them was a fleet of lasers competing in the Sail Sydney Event, making for some incredible photos which drove home the sheer enormity of these super maxi yachts.

Measuring only 13.9ft, the one-design dinghy called a Laser is well known. Numbering in the hundreds of thousands worldwide, chances are you've sailed one in years past! With their simple rig, bullet proof construction and easy handling characteristics, they're sailed by a single person.

On the other end of the spectrum, Comanche measures in at 100ft from bow to stern. Requiring a team of 20 to man-handle the scaled up IMOCA 60, Comanche has spent the last year dominating every race, breaking records and wooing the sailing public with her sleek design ultra modern look.

Averaging more than 25 knots over 24 hours, Comanche smashed the 24 hour record for a monohull this year while winning the 618 nautical mile Transatlantic Race. It's all about making up for last years loss to Wild Oats XI, claiming line honours in every major race she enters.

Last week however, it was just Comanche, 20 crew and a fleet of tiny little lasers… Check out the incredible photos of the super maxi Comanche below.

Photos by Brett Beyer - used with permission.