Sydney - Hobart Race

There are two national holidays that fall at Christmastime here: Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Boxing Day is an important day in Sydney: not only is it the day that Sydneysiders recover from their Christmas hangovers, but it's also the start of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race!

The Sydney-Hobart race is a sailing race that starts in Sydney harbor and goes south down the coast to Hobart in Tasmania. To give you an idea of how far that is, the fastest race times are a little over a day, but most boats take longer than that (depending on weather, of course).

It's a big Boxing Day tradition for Sydneysiders to turn out and see the boats leave the harbor. We decided to join in, so we got up early on Wednesday to head out to Watson Bay. The ferry out to Watson Bay stops a little before the race begins, so we caught the next to last boat out. 

Heading out!

There are only a couple restaurants at Watsons Bay, and they're not very close to where we were going to be watching the race. So we packed up a picnic lunch, books, and a blanket for the day.

We got there right around 11 (the race starts at 1). It wasn't too crowded when we got there, so we were able to get a pretty good spot. 

There were all kinds of people out enjoying the day. 

You're welcome!

The crowds definitely picked up the closer it got to race-time. 

A lot of the boats in the race cruised by in the harbor before the race got started, so we got a good look at the boats and could see their crews prepping. 

The race starts when a gun is fired, which we could hear pretty clearly from where we were. 

Lining up for the start

And they're off!

All the boats watching in the harbor ride alongside the boats as the race heads out

It was amazing how quickly the boats got up to speed off the start line. There was a strong wind this day, and they said it was the fastest start ever. 

Pretty soon, the boats were alongside us. 

It was nearly as exciting to see all the other boats in the harbor chugging along towards the heads, following the race out.

In addition to the hundreds of boats out watching, there were also about 20 helicopters circling

After most of the boats were out of the harbor, we scooted across the to the other side of the point and got to see the boats passing the heads...

And heading out into the ocean!

It was a thrilling 20 minutes or so!

Since we knew all the public transport would be packed for the next hour, we took our time heading back to the town. We found a shady spot in the park and had our picnic while we waited for the rush to die down. 

Happy picnickers!

Then we headed back and got in line for the ferry. It was a lovely day to be at Watsons Bay!