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The Sydney Hobart 2026 starts on Saturday, 26 December, at 1 pm in Sydney Harbour, which is 3 am in Germany (CET). Four 100-foot maxis are going after the record set by Comanche in 2017, while much smaller boats are racing for overall victory (as at 14 November 2026).
The essentials at a glance
- Start: Saturday, 26 December 2026, 1 pm local time = 3 am (CET).
- Distance: 628 nautical miles from Sydney across Bass Strait to Hobart in Tasmania.
- 107 yachts have entered, including four 100-foot maxis, 18 double-handed crews and eight boats from abroad (as at 14 November 2026).
- You can follow the race live using the official tracker, and there is also a livestream.
- The record stands at 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds, set in 2017 by Comanche.
When does the Sydney Hobart 2026 start? Time in Germany
The starting gun fires on 26 December at 1 pm local time, which in Germany is 3 am (CET). Sydney is on daylight saving time in December, with clocks eleven hours ahead of UTC, while Germany is one hour ahead.
The difference is therefore ten hours. Coverage begins half an hour before the start, at 2:30 am German time.
| At a Glance | Sydney Hobart 2026 |
|---|---|
| Start | 26.12.2026, 1 pm local time = 3 am (CET) |
| Coverage from | 12:30 pm local time = 2:30 am CET |
| Departure location | Sydney Harbour |
| Destination | Finish line off Constitution Dock, Hobart (Tasmania) |
| Distance | 628 nm (around 1,170 km) |
| Entered | 107 yachts (as at 14.11.2026) |
| Record | 1 d 9 h 15 min 24 s, Comanche, 2017 |
| Edition | 81. |
Sydney Hobart live: where can you find the tracker and coverage?
The official tracker is available on the race website. It shows the fleet's positions on the map and the standings in the individual rankings.
A red sail on the map marks the boat leading on the course, and an orange sail marks the record holder. Under “Time to Beat” you can see the time in which a boat must finish to beat the leader of its ranking.
For the final miles before Hobart there is a dedicated finish tracker with positions up to ten minutes more up to date.
Where can I watch the start live?
Australian television broadcasts the start from 2:30 am German time, and the organiser also streams the race live on its YouTube channel CYCATV. In Sydney itself you can watch the start from the headlands at the harbour entrance, such as South Head, North Head or Watsons Bay.
Who are the favourites in the Sydney Hobart 2026?
Four 100-foot maxis are racing for the fastest time, while much smaller boats are battling for overall victory. The race has two main rankings.
Line Honours go to the first boat to arrive in Hobart. Overall victory, with the Tattersall Cup, goes to the boat with the best corrected time: the elapsed time is converted using a handicap factor so that a 10-metre boat can beat a 30-metre yacht.
Line Honours: the four maxis
- Tribeca LOYAL: Comanche, the record holder, starts under this name in 2026. She has won Line Honours five times, most recently in 2025. The new campaign is led by Anthony Bell, who has himself been first to Hobart twice.
- InfoTrack: the 100-foot yacht belonging to Christian Beck, who has used her to win Line Honours twice in a row. Until early November she was called LawConnect; in 2025 she finished second, 47 minutes behind Comanche.
- Palm Beach XI: the former Wild Oats XI, now owned by Mark Richards.
- Wild Thing 100: extended from 80 to 100 feet in 2023, owned by Grant Wharington and Adrian Seiffert. In 2025 the crew had to retire.
Overall win: who wins on corrected time?
The defending champion is Jiang Lin. In 2025, together with Alexis Loison, she became the first female owner-skipper to win overall, and the two were also the first double-handed crew to achieve this. In 2026 the duo are sailing a new JPK 10.50, again under the name Min River.
Alive, a 66-foot yacht from Tasmania with two overall wins, and Love & War, a Sparkman & Stephens classic with three overall wins, third in 2025, have also won several times. Then there is Matt Allen, four-time overall winner, with the Volvo 70 Ichi Ban, as well as five TP52s and further double-handed crews.
What is the record for the Sydney Hobart?
The record stands at 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds. It was set by Comanche in 2017, beating the previous year's best by more than four hours.
On average that is just under 19 knots over the whole course, around 35 km/h. How such figures compare with a cruising yacht is explained in our article How fast is a sailing boat?
For 2026 this means: a new record will only fall if the first yacht reaches Hobart before 22:15 local time on 27 December, which is 12:15 German time. Whether that works out will depend above all on the wind. In 2025 the fastest yacht took 2 days and a good 5 hours.
What course does the fleet sail, and what makes the Bass Strait so dangerous?
The 628 nautical miles lead south from Sydney along the coast of New South Wales, across the Bass Strait and along the east coast of Tasmania to Hobart. How long a nautical mile is can be found in our article on nautical mile.
The Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania is shallow, and this is where the Tasman Sea meets the Southern Ocean. Strong wind quickly builds steep, short waves on the shallow water. A calm can turn into a storm within minutes.
1998 showed how serious this can be: a rapidly deepening low brought winds of up to 80 knots and waves of 15 metres and more. Six sailors died, five yachts sank, and only 44 of 115 boats reached the finish.
On the east coast of Tasmania the wind often shifts quickly. The last 40 or so nautical miles from Tasman Island through Storm Bay and up the Derwent to Hobart are tactically tricky, because the wind eases and shifts and the current in the river comes into play.
Will German sailors be taking part in the Sydney Hobart 2026?
No German yacht has been entered (as at 14 November 2026). From the German-speaking world comes Cockatoo, a Volvo 70 from Austria, entered for the Salzburger Yacht Club. The owner is the Austrian Johannes Schwarz.
The other overseas boats come from New Zealand, Hong Kong, New Caledonia, Poland and the USA, among other places. The entry list does not show whether individual Germans are sailing on other boats.
Current status (14 November 2026)
The entry deadline expired on 23 October, and 107 yachts have entered. In 2025 there were 128 starters, the second-largest fleet this century.
Two maxis are starting under new names: Comanche has become Tribeca LOYAL, and LawConnect has become InfoTrack.
At 628 nautical miles, the race is much shorter than an Atlantic crossing such as the Route du Rhum 2026. However, it takes in the Bass Strait, where the weather can change within minutes.
Take part in a regatta yourself
A place on board is possible even without your own yacht. On Törnfinder you will find offers where, as crew, you can take part in a regatta .
Frequently asked questions
When does the Sydney Hobart 2026 start in German time?
On 26 December 2026 at 3 am (CET). In Sydney it will then be 1 pm, and coverage begins at 2:30 am German time.
Where can you follow the Sydney Hobart live?
On the official tracker on the race website. The organiser also provides a livestream on YouTube.
How long does the Sydney Hobart take?
The fastest time is 1 day and a good 9 hours (record set in 2017). In 2025 the first yacht took 2 days and a good 5 hours. Smaller boats take considerably longer; in 2017 the last ones were still at sea on the fourth and fifth days.
Who holds the Sydney Hobart record?
Comanche, with a time of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds, set in 2017. In 2026 she starts as Tribeca LOYAL.
