Dec 17, 2025 – 5.00am
Subscribe to gift this article
Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.
Subscribe now
Already a subscriber? Login
On Boxing Day, Tony Ellis will compete in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race for a record 55th time. Asked what keeps him returning to the gruelling Bass Strait race, the veteran sailor responds with a shrug. “Certifiable madness,” the 81-year-old says. “I just love it.”
Ellis’ first crossing was in 1963 when he crewed on Salacia 1, a 42-footer largely made of Huon pine. He was 19 at the time and remembers the bitter cold coming into Tasmania’s Storm Bay with a 60-knot south-westerly raging and snow visible on Mount Nelson. Back then, the crew didn’t have moisture-wicking base layers or weatherproof jackets with double-taped seams. Ellis sailed barefoot (“good for stubbing toes”) and his main form of protection was a “special woollen jumper” knitted by his mum with shorter sleeves so it didn’t absorb water through the cuffs of his oilskins.
Loading…
