Right now the crews of the 117 yachts entered in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart are hard at work, prepping for the journey down Australia’s East coast, across Bass Strait to the Derwent River in Hobart.

With several ‘super-maxis’ competing for the line honours title, the worlds media will be firmly focused on the multi-million dollar machines at the front of the pack, but for sailors in smaller boats, 2014 could be a chance to break some personal records.

Forecasts are predicting winds to be from the South initially, which means that the maxis will be battling almost the entire race upwind (which is slower), then, later in the week a Northerly change will roll down the coast, pushing the slower boats at the back of the pack (which will get the wind first) towards Hobart, possibly meaning some of the fastest races ever for these guys!

While that doesn’t mean a race record will be broken, it does mean some cracking handicap times for the slower boats, which are usually dominated by professional crews on the 100ft racers. Everyone in the sailing community knows that handicap results are the ones that count, because they’re adjusted to reflect the differing speeds of each boat. The media continues to glorify the line honours winners however, because after all, that’s the one that counts in almost every other racing sport.

The gun will fire after lunch on Boxing day, so camp out in front of the telly, or if you’re in Sydney get down to the coast and have a look at some of the worlds best sailors and fastest boats as they race from Sydney, to Hobart.

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