The 1946 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race was the second annual running of the "blue water classic"

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an annual event hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, New South Wales, on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. The race distance is approximately . The race is run i ...

. It was hosted by the

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) was established in 1944 in Darling Point, inner-east Sydney. The club is known as one of Australia's premier yacht clubs, and is acknowledged as one of the leaders in ocean racing in the country. The ...

based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. The inaugural race in 1945 had been planned as a

cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...

, and no thoughts were given to repeating the event. However it became a race at the suggestion of visiting

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

captain John Illingworth, and the race proved so popular a repeat was planned. The second race began on

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

, at noon on

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

(26 December 1946), before heading south for 630 nautical miles (1,170 km) through the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

, past

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

, into

Storm Bay The Storm Bay is a large bay in the south-east region of Tasmania, Australia. The bay is the river mouth to the Derwent River estuary and serves as the main port of Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania. The bay is bordered by Bruny Island to ...

and up the Derwent River, to cross the finish line in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

, Tasmania. The 1946 expanded fleet comprised more than double the vessels of the inaugural event with 19 starters. Of the 19 starters, 8 yachts were forced to retire, and the remaining 11 made it successfully to Hobart, with ''Morna'' captained by Claude Plowman winning line honours, and ''Christina'' captained by JR Bull taking handicap honours on adjusted time.

1946 fleet

19 yachts registered to begin the 1946 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. They were:

1946 fleet

Results

References

See also