The long journeys of Sydney to Hobart's exotic yachts

It's taken two years, close to 20,000NM, a water shortage and a broken wrist for the Dutch yacht Aragon to arrive on the starting line for her first Sydney to Hobart.

Two years ago, owner Andries Verder made a pact with his crew to embark on the journey of a lifetime that would culminate in racing the 72-footer in Australia's most iconic off-shore contest.

The path to Sydney snaked through the Atlantic Ocean, from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, up to the US for some maintenance, across to Hawaii, down to Fiji and finally on to Australia.

For good measure, Aragon competed in the Newport Bermuda and TransPac races along the way.

"It would've done 15 to almost 20,000 miles altogether," said crew member Carolijn Brouwer, who is sailing her fifth Hobart.

Aragon finally arrived at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia on Wednesday, having been moored in Newcastle since November.

The long journey was not without complications.

Ahead of a maintenance check in Newport, Rhode Island, the crew discovered her keel had broken almost to the point of snapping off entirely.

During the 2025 TransPac race from Los Angeles to Hawaii, Verder slipped in the companionway and broke his wrist.

The crew also needed to navigate a terrifying water shortage midway through that epic 10-day race, leaving them with only 1.2 litres per person for the remaining four days.

"Our generator failed and that's how we make water on the boat," Brouwer explained.

"Sydney to Hobart, you can survive, because for our boat it's about a two-and-a-half-day race, but the Transpac is a 10-day race.

"So if you run out of water, it means you can't make food because we eat freeze-dried food that depends on water."

Australia-based Brouwer said she was "getting a bit worried" before the crew eventually managed to fix the broken generator later in the TransPac.

Now that they're in Australia, the crew has linked up with Adrienne Cahalan, the Sydney-Hobart's most decorated female sailor who is coming aboard as navigator.

Three-time Olympian Brouwer is honoured to be sailing on just the fifth Dutch boat to contest the Sydney-Hobart this century.

"When am I going to get the opportunity to sail for your home country with Dutch people on board in a race like the Sydney to Hobart? It's pretty unique," she said.

Aragon is one of 16 international boats in this year's fleet, with some hailing from Poland, Hong Kong and the USA's Pacific Northwest, among other far-flung destinations.

Michel Quintin and Yann Rigal are sailing two-handed to Hobart aboard BNC - MY:NET, one of two boats from the French overseas territory New Caledonia.

After a night of mandatory quarantine at Neutral Bay in Sydney's north, the pair of veteran sailors and great mates arrived to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia last week.

But Quintin has known the seas between New Caledonia and Sydney almost since the day he was born; his family relocated to Sydney for his birth in the late 1960s before travelling back to Noumea on a ship three weeks later.

"It was not so safe (to have a baby in New Caledonia) at that moment, and she was Australian, my mother," Quintin explained.

Quintin would go on to a lifelong love of the ocean that led him to represent France in windsurfing at the 1988 Olympics.

For Quintin and Rigal, nothing could compare to the feeling of arriving in Sydney Harbour after nearly a week at sea.

"It's really nice to come by sea in Sydney because you see the buildings first after you enter The Heads," Quintin said.

"It was amazing, at 7pm, just perfect. There was lots of action in Sydney Harbour with boats racing, yachts partying. You haven't seen anyone for six days and then ... wow!"