The owner of Mexico's first Sydney to Hobart entry Iataia concedes he will be at a disadvantage by tackling the great race without local crew.

The 40 foot boat has a crew of nine Mexicans and while one lives in Brisbane, none has ever tackled a race to Hobart.

"We know that we have a disadvantage with that, but we would like to try all Mexicans," owner Marcos Rodriguez said.

"When we thought about maybe someone local, our main concern was the language, eight speaking Spanish and one speaking English.

Rodriguez and his skipper Marc Rosenfeld emphasised they had been getting great support from the local sailing community.

"We've been getting the knowledge in the bar and they tell us what to do and what not to do," Rosenfeld joked.

Rodriquez said he regarded tackling the great bluewater classic as a challenge rather than an adventure and was hoping for a variety of conditions.

Their historic Hobart campaign had not attracted any attention or publicity back home.

"In Mexico the sailing world is very small much more than here," Rodriguez said.

He hoped if Iataia finished the race it would help the Mexican sailing federation develop the sport back home.

"We would like to try some rough weather in Bass Strait, not very rough, but we would like to know what it is, that's why we are here," Rodriguez said.

"We'd like to check if we have the abilities and we can cope with all that."

The crew was not without international offshore race experience and Iataia sailed across the South Pacific, passing French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Fiji and New Caledonia.

Rodriguez said the boat's name didn't translate into English as it was a combination of two letters from the names of each of his two daughters and his ex-wife.

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