Inside the Sydney to Hobart 2025 safety briefing and how the race will be run under tighter controls.
Early this afternoon AEST, Sam Hayes, Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, welcomed skippers from the 129-strong fleet entered in the 2025 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race to the Safety Briefing. This year, attendance was compulsory.
That requirement was driven largely by what unfolded in the previous edition of the race. Two sailors lost their lives. A separate man overboard incident tested fleet response and rescue coordination. The subsequent review made it clear that stronger emphasis was needed on shared understanding, particularly around weather interpretation, communications, and safety procedures.
The Sydney to Hobart has long been defined by its reputation for hard weather and physical strain. It remains a race that exposes crews, systems, and decision-making to sustained pressure. One of the clearer recommendations to emerge from last year’s review was that every boat must be represented at the Skippers’ Briefing, not as a formality, but as a common baseline.
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It was within that context that this year’s briefing took place.
The briefing for the 80th Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race was practical, detailed, and tightly focused. The emphasis was on how it the race was expected to behave this year, and how it will be managed when conditions tighten.
Last year’s race sat quietly beneath much of the discussion, in the way procedures were described and limits were set. The priority was clear. Reduce unforced errors. Avoid compounding problems. Focus on execution rather than ambition.
Weather is not a headline number
The Bureau of Meteorology briefing centred on interpretation rather than prediction.
All wind speeds published for the race are ten-minute mean values. They are not peak figures. Gusts routinely exceed those numbers, and short-lived squalls can exceed them again. Crews were reminded that treating a forecast number as a ceiling remains one of the most common offshore misjudgements.
Wave forecasts are based on significant wave height. Individual waves may reach roughly twice the published value within the same period. A two to three metre forecast offshore does not describe the largest wave on the course. It describes the average of the highest third.
The dominant system early in the race is a slow-moving high pressure area centred over Tasmania. At the start, the fleet sits on its eastern flank. Once clear of Sydney Heads, that places the course in a firm southerly flow. Offshore winds in the low to mid twenties are expected, aligned with a well-developed southerly swell running at around ten seconds.
As the system shifts east, conditions are forecast to ease through the 27th and 28th. Wind strength drops as boats move closer to the centre of the high, with a gradual rotation toward easterly flow. That change is likely to shape routing through Bass Strait more than outright speed.
South of Tasmania, attention turns to sea state rather than sky conditions. Residual southerly swell, a westerly component moving through Southern Ocean latitudes, and local wind waves are expected to intersect near the Derwent approaches. Even in otherwise settled weather, that combination can produce an awkward final run in.
Later in the forecast window, forecasters flagged the possibility of a low pressure system forming near Tasmania toward the end of December. Model agreement remains limited, but the scenario includes stronger winds and heavy rain. While many yachts will be finished by then, delivery planning was clearly part of the discussion.
Accessing forecast information offshore
Forecast delivery has shifted quietly over the past year.
Coastal Water Forecasts now update four times daily and extend to 60 nautical miles offshore. Beyond that limit, crews are expected to rely on high seas products and ocean wind warnings.
Text-based forecast pages remain available for low-bandwidth connections. HF radio and satellite broadcasts continue to carry warnings. The expectation was implicit rather than stated. Offshore crews are expected to stay informed.
Managing the start as a marine operation
The Sydney Harbour start will be run as a controlled waterway event.
An exclusion zone activates at midday and remains in force until the fleet clears the harbour, supported by a large enforcement presence. A six-knot no-wash buffer surrounds the zone, with passive craft excluded.
There will be no general recall. Individual recalls apply, with identification delayed after the start. Combined with an outgoing tide at high water, the committee highlighted fleet compression and closing speeds as factors requiring judgement rather than aggression.
Search and rescue, without ambiguity
Search and rescue guidance left little room for interpretation.
Every EPIRB or PLB activation is treated as a real distress until confirmed otherwise. Assets will deploy regardless of intent.
Crews were given clear technical guidance. EPIRBs should be deployed in the water and tethered to a raft where conditions allow. PLBs should be worn high, with antennas upright. Multiple activations can interfere with homing accuracy and should be avoided unless separation makes them necessary.
Night operations were addressed directly. Helicopter winching from yachts is not conducted after dark. Fixed-wing aircraft may assist with coordination, but crews must be prepared to stabilise the situation until daylight.
Safety regulation, tightened again
Several regulatory changes now shape the 2025 race.
At least half the crew, including the person in charge, must have completed a qualifying race or passage on the entered yacht. Safety and Sea Survival certification is now required for sixty percent of the crew.
AIS man overboard devices are mandatory, in addition to personal locator beacons. Double handed entries must carry two three-clip tethers.
IRC compliance inspections may occur before or after the race, extending up to twelve hours after finishing, with the Technical Committee empowered to initiate protests.
Communications as infrastructure
Satellite communications now sit at the centre of race management.
Position reports via satellite SMS are mandatory twice daily, within defined windows. Green Cape declarations must be made by satellite voice call using compliant fixed antenna systems.
Crews using Starlink were specifically warned to confirm that testing is carried out via satellite routing rather than cellular fallback.
Communications were framed as infrastructure, not convenience.
This is a complex offshore operation
The closing message was practical. The race will be physically demanding. Some crews will struggle. Some boats will retire.
What has changed is the framing. The Sydney to Hobart is now managed explicitly as a complex offshore operation. Those who enter are expected to understand the systems involved and operate within them.
