Getting a tick on the bucket list

For more Christmases than we can recall, a Boxing Day ritual would include watching the start of the Melbourne Boxing Day Test Match (Cricket) followed by the start to the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Excess food from Christmas Eve (a traditional Polish style Wigilia) and Christmas Day Lunch made for a very relaxed start to the 'holiday' part of the holiday season - the preceding days being entirely frenetic.

Cougar is an entrant for this year's race.

They left RYCT for Sydney around 25th November.

Once settled on a sailing pastime, the commencement of the race to Hobart became of considerably greater interest and a fantasy emerged that we'd like to witness the end of this epic event. Of course the 'end' is quite a drawn out process, quite unlike the start which is more defined and commences with the firing of a canon at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney. Notwithstanding, the journey for the finishers up The Derwent to Hobart, be it alone or in a tacking duel, is an immense achievement and we've wanted to experience the spectacle and the ambiance of Constitution Dock.

And so it is, that instead of remaining in Perth for a mere 5 days more and spending Christmas with family and baby Hugo, we winged our way back to Hobart to get ready.

 Flags flying at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania. It's the 70th anniversary Race.

We've got our memorabilia and some Tassie bubbles to celebrate.

We're ready! We've had a taste of a part of their journey in getting to Hobart ourselves - obviously without the pressures that these hardy sorts will experience.

We wish all the Skippers, Crews and Owners FAIR WINDS!

We'll be watching and waiting and we'll be putting a tick on our Bucket List too!