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Sydney Hobart 101: the Race that captures an ocean

Home 2025 Sydney Hobart 101: the Race that captures an ocean

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Boxing Day. 1pm. Sydney Harbour explodes into a blur of colour, chaos and cameras. Hundreds of sails unfurl, horns blare, and thousands of spectators crowd the headlands. Loungerooms are filled with couch dwellers watching on Channel 9. It’s the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - 628 nautical miles of beauty, bravery and endurance. You don’t need to know a halyard from a hull to get swept up in it. Here’s your crash course in Australia’s most iconic ocean race.

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What’s It All About? 

Each year since 1945 (except when COVID reared its ugly head in 2020), a fleet of yachts has set sail from Sydney Harbour, bound for Hobart, Tasmania. They race south down the NSW coast, cross the fierce Bass Strait and battle up the Derwent River to the finish line at Constitution Dock. 

It’s a journey of around 1,170 kilometres (for those that find nautical miles as foreign as the gybe) and is sometimes fast and friendly, sometimes ferocious. The race is organised by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) and sponsored by Rolex, giving this salty tradition a touch of luxury. 

The Challenge of the Sea 

The Sydney Hobart has a reputation for being tough, and it’s well-earned. Conditions can swing from calm sunshine to roaring gales within hours. Crews can face 40-knot winds, freezing nights, and the infamous swell of Bass Strait, where the Tasman Sea meets the Southern Ocean. 

Safety is paramount, but the race still demands courage, skill and teamwork in equal measure. 

The Fleet: Giants and Battlers 

Around 130 yachts will make up the fleet this year.  

At the front are the Maxis, the 100-foot carbon-fibre rockets like LawConnect, MasterLock Comanche, Palm Beach XI and Wild Thing 100 all capable of reaching Hobart in well under two days. They’re chasing line honours, awarded to the first boat to finish. 

Further back are the smaller boats, from 30-to 50-footers, many sailed by weekend warriors and club-based crews of mates. They’re competing for the George Adams Tattersall Cup, the fancy trophy given to the winner of the overall title on handicap, a clever time-adjustment system that means almost any boat, big or small, can win. 

That’s part of the magic: a family cruiser from Rushcutters Bay, sailed by a husband and wife team, can potentially outwit a million dollar machine if they sail smart and catch the right winds. 

The Start: Sydney’s Boxing Day Spectacle 

The 1pm start on Boxing Day is one of the great sporting traditions – and sights - in Aussie culture. Yachts surge off four different start lines, flanked by ferries and spectator craft as they race toward the Heads. It’s seemingly a choreography of aquatic chaos — all strategy, split-second timing and white-knuckle steering. 

The best vantage points? Try South Head, North Head or Bradley’s Head. Can’t make it? Channel 9’s live coverage will get you going before you pick up the race tracker at rolexsydneyhobart.com and follow the action all the way to the end. 

The Route: Beauty and Brutality 

From Sydney’s world renowned harbour to Tasmania’s rugged coastline, the route is breathtaking. But the Bass Strait, shallow, unpredictable and unforgiving, is where reputations are made or broken. 

And just when the weary sailors think they’ve made it, the Derwent River plays its final trick. As Hobart’s lights and sounds appear, the breeze can vanish completely. Boats can drift painfully close to victory, sometimes overtaken by rivals within sight of the finish. 

The Spirit of the Race 

This isn’t just a contest of speed. It’s a test of endurance, teamwork and resolve. Crews push through exhaustion, seasickness and storms, longing for the moment they finally turn into Hobart’s Constitution Dock, greeted by roaring crowds, a hug from friends and family, cold beer, warm rum and relief.  

Some chase records. Others chase the finish. Every yacht has its story, and every sailor has their own reason for being there. It’s a thing of beauty told so many different ways. Which brings us to…. 

Why It Still Captures Us 

In an age of instant entertainment gratification, the Rolex Sydney Hobart is refreshingly real. It’s raw nature, human courage, technology and timeless tradition rolled into one. 

So, when the cannon fires (yes, the great race gets underway to the boom of a cannon!) this Boxing Day and the sails bloom against Sydney’s summer sky, look closer. Behind every hull and every wave is a story of adventure - bound for Hobart, and for history. 

Click here for more information on how you as a spectator can follow the race.