2019 Sydney-Hobart yacht race

[Wendai]

Thought I would share a very positive review of a recent cruise.  We have just come off Le Laperouse essentially following the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, starting in Sydney on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart on 2-January.  It was the 75th anniversary of this iconic sailing event, and by all accounts it was fantastic with 154 boats competing.  Starting with Le Laperouse's ability to sail through a closed Sydney Harbour and then anchor withing 0.6mi of the turning mark to watch all the sailing competitors as they made their way out of the heads and turned south.   To organise this with Sydney Ports by Ponant, was no mean feat.  Then onboard for the whole trip were Peter Shipway (commentator and many, many time Sydney-Hobart competitor) to provide continual updates and colourful commentaries.  Along also were Sir James Hardy with his lovely wife Lady Joan.  Again, colourful commentaries and between them could probably fill volumes of 'war stories'.  The cruise stopped off at Flinders Island and Wineglass Bay in Tasmania where we had Zodiac excursions.  Excellent.  Then finally 4 days in Hobart amongst all the buzz of the arriving yachts and the race village.  A New Years party on board was superb, with fireworks not far off the stern.  As a cruise, this was a a short one and a specialty aimed at mostly yachties, but this was no 11 for us with Ponant (and 2nd on Le Laperouse) and every bit enjoyable from stat to finish.

[gogo65]

Thanks for the quick review!

i can imagine it would have been awesome being on the harbour when the Sydney to Hobart started. 

We’ve done one Ponant to Antarctica and have just booked a second to the Kimberley’s.

 

We had a cruise cancelled last year (Iceland to Quebec), it left a bad taste in our mouth, and as a replacement we booked a silversea Arctic cruise, while we enjoyed it, we realised we preferred Ponant, silversea was more snobby, we enjoyed Ponant being a little more laid back, not sure if that was because 25% of our Antartica cruise were Aussies or just the general vibe. I assume the Kimberley cruise will also be top heavy with Aussies!