Wagga's Martin Gregory rides the highs and lows of the Sydney to Hobart aboard Pekljus

The Wagga sailor was on board Pekljus which was among the flotilla of yachts heading out of Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day.

Pekljus arrived at Hobart’s Constitution Dock late on Friday afternoon. The three days, four hours, forty-two minutes and 18 seconds on board were an unforgettable mix of excitement and drama for a race debutant.

“It was just fantastic, probably everything a Sydney to Hobart should be,” Gregory said. “We had some high times, where things were going really well, and some low times, when they weren’t.

“We got up as high as second in our division a couple of times, but we also shredded a couple of spinnakers and had a couple of interesting moments and things to think about.”

The yacht finished sixth in its category, PHS Division 1. 

“We were going pretty nicely while the northerly lasted coming down to Tasmania,” Gregory said.

“We were doing 20 to 22 knots and screaming down the coast, surfing down the waves. Our top speed was 23.9 which is pretty fast.

“It was all hands on deck, working, trimming sails, everyone’s yelling at everyone. We’re all laughing and carrying on. It was great, the boat was moving beautifully.

“Then when the southerly hit (halfway along the coast of Tasmania) that cost us a lot of time. We just needed the northerly for another couple of hours and we might have finished 12 hours earlier.”

They’d lost two spinnakers earlier and Gregory said the arrival of the southerly, upon them in an instant, required an abrupt change, amid concerns of shredding a third.

Plenty of moments demanded immediate responses and Gregory, who originally took up sailing as a family hobby, said his training and a good crew helped. 

“I felt comforted by the experience on the boat, that there were people on board directing us and who really knew what they were doing,” he said. “We didn’t have to make the decisions, we just had to do what we had to do.

“We hit two sunfish along the way and that played up with our rudder.

“It was eventful. It was everything a Sydney to Hobart should be. And probably for my first, the conditions were quite favourable. We didn’t get hammered.”

A couple of stints of tough conditions caused some seasickness concerns along the way.

And, after a hectric three days on board, there was nothing like reaching the finish line, where Gregory’s family was among many there to greet them.

“When we arrived, there’s a couple of hundred metres of people at tables lined up waiting for the boats to come in,” he said. “As you walk past, they’re all standing and cheering and waving. That’s quite an emotional time. It was quite surreal.”