Defending champion Vince Williams and last year's line honours winner Milton Bloomfield are the ones to watch in the Donald Hay Classic races on Lake Wakatipu.
The Wakatipu Yacht Club hosts the Pub to Pub Race on Friday, and the Classic on Saturday.
It will be the 32nd year club members have marked the voyage by raft of early settler Donald Hay. The explorer was the first person known to have made the Kingston to Queenstown crossing, in 1859.
The event is open to trailer and keel yachts 5.2m and over. The races traditionally attract entrants from all corners of the lower South Island, and 34 entered last year.
However, the rising cost of petrol may deter some competitors from travelling, Commodore David Stringer, of Queenstown, said.
The Pub to Pub race will have a Le Mans start from the Pig and Whistle Pub, in Queenstown, at 11am. Competitors run to their boats moored in Queenstown Bay and race to the finish at the Kingston Tavern.
The classic starts at Kingston beach on Saturday at about 10.30am, or as soon as the 9.30am registration concludes. The finish line is near One Mile, Queenstown.
Boats will have various handicaps applied to level the odds.
There are trophies to be won, specifically the Donald Hay Classic trophy for being first over the finishing line.
