The Navy George Bass Surf Boat Marathon, the longest, toughest open-sea surfboat race in the world, will be rowed from Batemans Bay to Eden from January 3 to 9.

After arriving by helicopter at a park next to Bulli Surf Life Saving Club yesterday, Commander Fleet Air Arm, Commodore Tony Dalton, officially launched the biannual event.

This is the second time the Royal Australian Navy has had naming rights sponsorship of the George Bass marathon.

The first George Bass Surf Boat Marathon was in 1975, the brainchild of then Bega District News editor Curly Annabel, inspired by the open boat journey of Surgeon Commander George Bass, who rowed with a crew of six in an open whaleboat mapping the coast of NSW and Victoria in 1797.

Commodore Dalton said the legacy of Bass' exploring spirit lives on in the Navy's modern maritime explorers - the Australian Hydrographic Service whose head office is in Wollongong.

"Navy supports the Australian Surf Rowers League and the George Bass Surf Boat Marathon because the rowing discipline commands a high level of fitness, commitment, skill and teamwork, the very same values that we in the Navy strive to apply in everything we do," Commodore Dalton said.

More than 20 male and female crews from NSW, the ACT, Victoria and an international crew from Holland have already entered the 2010 George Bass marathon.

"At this stage we have 15 men's and nine women's teams," said Greg Malavey, of George Bass Marathon marketing and operations.

"The women have a far bigger team mix this time than last time, five crews from NSW, three from Victoria and one from ACT to give us nine."

Illawarra men's crews will be Bulli, Bulli Vets, Fairy Meadow and Wollongong City.