One of the big events that makes Sydney a sailor’s dream destination is the Sydney-Hobart yacht race that starts on Boxing Day and ends an unbelievably short time later in Tasmania over a stretch of water that’s not for the faint of heart. We weren’t sure Nancy and Dave were up for it but there’s no way we were going to miss the start in Sydney Harbour. The problem was finding where the starting line would be and how to get to a good spot to take in all the prestart maneuvers of these big beatiful speed machines. We asked around, we checked on Google, we consulted any source we could find but in the end took a stab in the dark and ferried to one of the recommended spots. 
We got to our designated overlook only to find it empty — bad sign — and only in sight of the stream of spectator boats heading out of view. This clearly would not do. I corralled us onto a nearby bus and back to a main road for a connecting bus further out in the harbour but the transit system was on the holiday schedule and the clock kept ticking towards the start time with no way to get to a better vantage point.
Dave flagged down a taxi and as soon as we told the driver we wanted to see the race start he took off with a plan to get us where we needed to go. And it was perfect.
The boats are big and fast and the water was packed with spectator boats of all kinds. We would love to have been on the water but you couldn’t beat the view we had up on the hill. 
As fun as it was to watch live from the shoreline, it’s exciting to watch the TV coverage, too. Here’s a link to the full program and if you want to skip to the crazy bits, scoot forward to about 20 minutes in.