Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race

The Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race is a 285-nautical-mile offshore passage race that runs from the Tamar River in northern Tasmania, down the island's east coast, to a finish in Hobart — starting on 27 December each year and organised by the Derwent Sailing Squadron. Often shortened to the "L2H", it gives Tasmanian crews a genuine bluewater classic of their own over the Christmas–New Year period, run in deliberate parallel with the better-known mainland races that converge on the River Derwent at the same time.

It is short by ocean-racing standards, but rarely easy. Between the tricky river start and the open water of Banks Strait, the L2H asks a lot of navigators and tacticians, and it has built a loyal following among the boats and sailors of the Apple Isle.

What it is

The Launceston to Hobart is an annual offshore race for keelboats, sailed in late December. Boats leave the upper reaches of the Tamar River, work their way out to sea, and then race around the top of Tasmania and down the east coast to Hobart. The full distance is 285 nautical miles.

Because it finishes on the Derwent at the same time as the Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race, the L2H lets local crews contest a serious offshore event without trucking their boats to a mainland start. The two fleets share a finish and a festive arrival into Hobart, which is part of the race's appeal. If you are new to the sport, the sailing terms glossary is a useful companion for the language used throughout this guide.

History

The Launceston to Hobart was launched in 2007, the product of Tasmanian sailing clubs wanting a home-grown offshore race to coincide with the established Christmas passage races. It was conceived as an annual fixture and has been run each year since, building a record book of line honours winners and handicap champions.

The course has not stayed identical across its life. The early editions started near the mouth of the Tamar at Low Head; the start was later moved upstream to Beauty Point, lengthening the race and adding the demanding river section that now defines its opening hours. That 285-mile layout has become the race's settled identity.

The course

The race begins on the Tamar River near Launceston, off Beauty Point, well inside the estuary rather than out at sea. That makes the first stage a navigator's exercise: crews must carry the fleet down a winding, current-affected river to reach open water, where wind shadows and tidal gates can reshuffle the order before the real offshore work begins.

Once clear of the Tamar, boats turn east and run along the north coast of Tasmania before crossing Banks Strait — the often-lumpy stretch of water between the mainland of Tasmania and the Furneaux Group, where strong tidal streams meet the Bass Strait swell. From there the fleet turns south and races down the Tasmanian east coast, past landmarks such as the Freycinet Peninsula and Tasman Island, before entering Storm Bay and the River Derwent for the finish off Castray Esplanade in Hobart. It is a course that rewards boats able to keep moving in light patches yet survive the harder going on the exposed eastern seaboard.

The fleet and classes

The L2H is open to monohulls and multihulls, and the entry list typically blends dedicated offshore racers with well-prepared cruiser-racers. Results are scored across several handicap systems — IRC, AMS and PHS — alongside a cruising division, so boats of very different size and vintage can each compete for a meaningful prize.

That mix of rating systems is common in Australian offshore racing; if the alphabet soup is unfamiliar, our explainer on IRC versus ORC handicap racing covers how measurement-based ratings work and why a fleet may be split across more than one. The race sits within the broader world of grand prix yacht racing, the high-performance end of the sport where professionally sailed, optimised boats chase outright honours.

Line honours versus handicap

As with every offshore classic, there are two prizes worth understanding. Line honours goes to the first boat across the finish line — usually the largest and fastest in the fleet, and the name that grabs the headlines. The handicap win is the true measure of the race, awarded after each boat's elapsed time is corrected by its rating so that a small, well-sailed yacht can beat a much bigger one on adjusted time.

The L2H has produced both: dominant line honours boats that have won the gun repeatedly, and handicap results that reward consistency and clever tactics over raw speed. If the distinction is new to you, our guide to line honours versus handicap walks through exactly how corrected time is calculated and why the two trophies so often go to different boats.

How to enter

Entry is managed by the Derwent Sailing Squadron through its official race noticeboard, hosted online. Prospective entrants should read the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions, which set out the safety category, required equipment and crew qualifications for the race — offshore events of this kind carry meaningful safety standards, and boats must comply before they can start.

Entries and the current fleet list are published via the squadron's online entry system. Crews planning to compete should confirm the relevant dates, categories and closing deadlines on the official race website well ahead of the late-December start, as offshore qualifications and inspections take time to arrange.

How to follow

The simplest way to follow the race is the Derwent Sailing Squadron's live satellite tracker, which plots every boat's position in near-real time as the fleet works down the coast — invaluable when the leaders are out of sight of land. The tracker, entry list, Notice of Race and results are all reachable from the official site.

For spectators in the south, the finish on the River Derwent is the place to be, with boats arriving into Hobart over the days following the start and joining the wider New Year regatta atmosphere on the waterfront. To see how the L2H fits alongside the other races that define a Tasmanian summer, browse our wider programme of east-coast events — and read more about Invicta, the Melges 40 grand prix one-design that races the Australian east coast. For the design philosophy behind boats like ours, see our explainers on one-design yacht racing and the Melges 40.