Joe de Kock has raced 14 times in the Sydney to Hobart, but cannot recall a sweeter end.
The 54-year-old owner of Midcoast Boatyard and Marine at Wickham is a veteran of the race on larger crews and boats. This year he sailed out of Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club (NCYC) as part of a two-handed crew with Richard Hooper on his own boat KD4 for the first time in the bluewater classic.
"With the bigger, more professional boats it's kind of job's done once you finish," de Kock said from Hobart on Friday.
"You're on the flight out on the same day. This is different because it's my own boat and it's my own little campaign and I'm the skipper, and my wife came down for the first time ever so it was very different. To get here feels quite special when it's your own boat."
It was also good to arrive - the first of four Hunter boats - after a race of two halves.
"The beginning was really idyllic and perfect and the second half was really difficult ... I've got to think a long way back to remember waves being that strong and wind that strong," de Kock said.
KD4 reached Hobart around 8.15pm on Thursday night, finishing 47th overall and fourth (ORC) and fifth (IRC) on handicap for its division.
Mako (Greg Busch, NCYC) was 49th overall, reaching the finish line around 9.30pm on Thursday, and second in Performance Based Handicap.
Mako failed to finish last year's race. The Sydney 40 yacht, sailed by a syndicate from NCYC, retired to port after their mainsail was damaged in a squall on the first night.
This year's campaign was not without its hiccups but Busch described it overall as "a good trip down".
"This year was fantastic sailing conditions," Busch said from Hobart on Friday.
"We still had issues. We broke our steering gear on the southern edge of Bass Strait but we managed to fix and get up and running again. That cost us around six, seven hours at sea ... but we got second place overall in our division and all in all a really enjoyable sail."
Hasta la Vista (Grimes family, Lake Macquarie Yacht Club) was 51st in line honours, crossing late Thursday night, and second in the Sydney 38 division.
Uprising Brightside Marine (Andrew Miller, NCYC) docked around midday on Friday, 92nd overall and sixth (ORC) and eighth (IRC) respectively in the two-handed division.
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