Mary Ann Harvey learned the truth about offshore racing somewhere around hour 43 of last year’s Sydney Hobart. For the previous 42 hours, she’d been asking herself what possessed her to sign up for 628 nautical miles of bashing into a headwind. The South Australian co-owner of the Sydney 38 Clockwork was shattered, doubtful, wondering if she’d ever willingly do this again.
Then the sun broke through. The wind swung aft. Dolphins appeared. Suddenly the relentless punishment made sense, and Harvey understood precisely why she keeps coming back.
This will be her fourth consecutive Sydney Hobart on Clockwork, which she owns with Andrew Lloyd. She previously raced the course in 2019 on another boat. The addiction isn’t about the suffering, though offshore racing hands out plenty of that. It’s about the crew pulling together through the rough patches, and the sheer beauty of being at sea when the weather turns kind.
“When it’s beautiful, it’s beautiful,” Harvey said. “That’s why we do it.”
Clockwork has finished every Sydney Hobart for the past three years straight, a remarkable record Harvey reckons few boats, even the big ocean racers, can claim. Last year’s race was punishing: 35 boats retired from 128 starters. That Clockwork limped across the finish line speaks to the preparation and the people aboard her.
What’s striking about Harvey and Lloyd’s operation is its unsponsored, volunteer spirit. They’re not running a professional campaign with a big budget behind them. Instead, they pack the boat with crew members keen for the adventure, race the coast whenever conditions allow, and treat the offshore events as the pinnacle of a broader sailing calendar. It’s the sort of Corinthian sailing that used to define New Zealand’s racing scene, and still does for plenty of clubs.
Harvey’s schedule for 2026 reads like a tour: the Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta in Victoria, winter series racing on Sydney Harbour, the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race in July, a 500-nautical-mile bash up to Mackay, Queensland race weeks, and the Girls and Ladies Sailing regatta at Townsville. Somewhere in the middle of all that, they’ll prepare for the 81st Sydney Hobart in December.
Harvey’s proud of what she and Lloyd have built with Clockwork since buying the boat in 2022, when they fitted her with that distinctive orange steering wheel. It’s not about trophy cabinets or divisional wins, though they took the Sydney 38 class in 2024. It’s about eight months of genuine adventure on the water, shared with a rotating crew of people who value the experience over the podium.
“For a budget, not sponsored group of two, Andrew and I do an enormous amount of sailing around the coast and take a lot of people along for the ride with us,” Harvey said. “That’s something to be proud of.”
