Sydney to Hobart yacht race line honours

We booked to stay in Richmond 30 minutes outside of Hobart for 10 days to spend Christmas. Being on the road we made a decision to it have presents this year but to celebrate when the Sydney to Hobart yachts came in. 

We booked a cruise from Brooke St Wharf to Peppermint Bay (Woodbridge). We had spotted this place on our travels along the coast and had read it was a must do. 

We were treated to a great cruise with full commentary down the Derwent and also a trip out to Ironpot Lighthouse which is the mouth of the Derwent. There is a full bar onboard so if celebrating and not driving then you are fully catered for. 

 Lunch consisted of 5 courses - Trent had the seafood option and I the vegetarian for entrees. Oysters followed by trout and goats curd followed by chicken liver pate, delicious homemade bread and then the 16 hour slow cooked lamb shoulder (we were salavating so much we forgot a photo!) followed by a rhubarb and Madeline dessert - $120pp plus drinks for the day. Well worth it. 

Upon return to Hobart we hung around the Rolex village for the Sydney to Hobart yachts to come in. We were told 8-8:30pm, they’ll be here soon, 30 minutes and they will be here - all a sailors story we learnt!  We were lucky enough to have a seat in the village to have drinks and fish and chips before spotting the locals heading out not the pontoons for a closer view. 

We waited patiently for a couple of hours, light was fading quickly and people were getting restless when suddenly a dark shadow could be seen as the sun had already passed behind Mount Wellington and the night had set in quickly. There she was Wild Oats, like a dark ghost appearing along the Derwent! We waited and waited while she tacked and made her way into the finish line. Ancient cannon went off followed by sirens and lots of cheers from the crowd. She had beaten the record by almost 5 hours!!  25 minutes later Comanche was a dark shadow appearing to cross the finish line and although not the same excitement, the sirens and crowd were just as loud. 

We only hung around to see Wild Oats come into Dock and although she was given a one hour time penalty we loved every minute of seeing the finish with an estimated crowd of 50,000!