Forty-two hours into last year's race, Justine Harvey was done. She rates it "the toughest 42 hours I've spent at sea," a relentless beat into wind and sea that left her certain she'd never race the Sydney Hobart again. "I felt like there was no end in sight," she said.
Then the 43rd hour arrived.
"The sun's out, the wind is behind you, there's some dolphins doing their thing," Harvey said. "And suddenly I realised this is why we do it — because when it's beautiful, it's beautiful." That shift was enough to bring her back for a fourth campaign aboard Clockwork, the South Australian yacht she co-owns with Andrew Lloyd.
Harvey's history with the race goes back to 2019 on the Sydney 38 Audacious. She's been aboard Clockwork for the three editions since, in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the boat, recognisable by its distinctive orange steering wheel, has finished every one. In 2025, 35 boats retired from 128 starters, and Harvey believes few others, even the 100-footers, can claim three completions without at least one retirement.
The 2024 race brought a Sydney 38 divisional win they couldn't repeat in 2025, but Harvey counts the finish itself as a victory given what the fleet faced.
What keeps her coming back isn't the brutal conditions. "I don't do the Sydney Hobart for the hard stuff. I do it for the fun stuff and the challenge," she said, adding that it's "the challenge of the team pulling together and getting through the tough stuff" that she values most. For Harvey and Lloyd, running what she calls a "budget, not sponsored" programme, that team ethos extends well beyond the Hobart.
"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, and that's something to be proud of," Harvey said.
Before the Boxing Day start from Sydney Harbour comes a packed calendar. Clockwork opens its season at the Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta in Victoria over the June long weekend, then contests the second half of the LGT Wealth Management Winter Series on Sydney Harbour through June and July. The boat then heads north for the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race on 25 July, the GCCM Southport to Mackay, the Queensland race weeks, and the GaLS Regatta at Townsville Yacht Club, before returning to Sydney for the 81st edition.
"We've been enjoying that over the last few years and are really looking forward to another eight months of adventure, with the Sydney Hobart towards the end of it," Harvey said.
