West Coast cruisin’ on board Bacardi

It’s well known that to secure a ride in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, sailors generally require a strong résumé that includes offshore experience.

Maxwell Cunningham flew to Hobart on 31 December 2025 with the intention of finding a berth on a boat returning to the mainland after the Sydney Hobart.

The 31-year-old Sydneysider, who learnt to sail four years ago, was familiar with sailing in Sydney Harbour, having completed his fair share of twilight races out of Drummoyne Sailing Club and Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. But he had never done an overnight passage.

Cunningham viewed the challenge as a means to an end – to build offshore miles in his quest to one day complete a Sydney Hobart. And he wanted to gain confidence offshore before a planned cruise along Australia’s east coast, part solo and crewed, on board his 33-foot Jarkan Europa Atom. To prepare for the voyage, Cunningham left his job as an environmental consultant in the construction industry in November.

When a Bacardi Hobart to Melbourne delivery crew member fell ill with food poisoning in early January, Cunningham and a friend, Sara Ladd, leapt at the opening. 

The pair joined one of the Bacardi owners, Brett Avery, on 2 January to sail the Peterson 44 back to Melbourne after the yacht’s 32nd Sydney Hobart campaign.

What followed for the crew of three, was a near-perfect four-day, three-night passage sailing Tasmania’s rugged west coast, across an almost flat Bass Strait, and into Port Phillip Bay, Victoria.

Cunningham talked to Offshore Magazine about the benefits gained from this unforgettable experience.

What is your sailing background?

Around four years ago a friend gave me the book Across Islands and Oceans about a guy who sailed around the world in the 1950s. I was captivated by that book. It encouraged me to purchase a Laser off Gumtree, and I learnt to sail on that. Next, I bought a trailer sailor. At the start of 2025 I bought a keelboat, now moored in Five Dock Bay. It’s called Atom, after the boat in the book that started the whole thing.

I’m also doing some club racing in the harbour, and cruising on my own boat.

How have you enjoyed sailing so far?

It’s my whole life now. It’s so exciting.

I love sailing for the sense of adventure being on the water under sail brings for me. Even a short trip out on the harbour has elements of unknown and challenges that will inevitably pop up along the way. It’s so rewarding to hone and develop your seamanship skills in a beautiful environment while connecting with nature.

I also find it cool that so much of what we know about wind, weather and sailing was developed by seafarers from hundreds of years ago. Learning the ways and following the traditions feels a bit like tapping into something very old which I think is neat.

Tell me about your upcoming cruise along the east coast on board Atom.

I’ll go down to Eden in early February. There’s an oyster festival in Narooma, on the far South Coast of NSW, at the end of April. That’s a great event to aim for, and it’ll be good with the nor’easters heading down the coast.

And then over winter, I’ll turn around and come up north to the Whitsundays islands, which start 900 kilometres north of Brisbane, an ambitious goal. But it would be awesome to make it to the Great Barrier Reef.

I finished work in November and have been getting the boat ready. I’m just at the start of the adventure.

Was it scary to quit your job?

It was a little bit scary, but it just came down to what I valued more in life, which was a chance at chasing an amazing adventure. Thinking about working away while dreaming of sailing for another 30 years and looking back on what could have been was honestly more terrifying. Whichever way this next little bit of my life goes, I’ll be happy I made the call to leave my job and give these sailing adventures a shot.

Who’s going with you?

I intend to set off and finish by myself. It’s a very easy boat to sail single handed. The trips I’ve done so far have mostly been by myself. But I have some friends who are keen to join. So, I think there’ll be people joining for different legs.

Tell us the story behind the decision to fly to Hobart to sail a boat home.

A friend I’ve sailed with on J70s, Sara Ladd, lives in Melbourne. She has previously done the Sydney Hobart and deliveries on board Tony Walton’s [46-foot Reichel Pugh] Hartbreaker. I told her that one year I would love to do the Sydney Hobart. And she said we should do a delivery on board Hartbreaker.

I thought, ‘Oh my God, amazing.’ But then the owner of Hartbreaker sold  the boat. Sara was like, “That connection is gone now. But we should fly down anyway, and we’ll meet people, and I’m sure we’ll get a lift back.” So, we bought tickets to go down, with the intent of looking around to see if anyone needed a hand on the way back.

What happened next?

We arrived on 31 December with our wet weather gear. We thought, if we’re down here and we’re eager, surely someone would need a hand, and we’ll be ready to rock!

We hung out at Customs House [hotel] and had beers and chatted to people that we knew from Sara’s racing. We were socialising, having a great time. And we went to a few different events, like the SheSails Women Sailors & Supporters Meet-Up.

Everyone we met loved that we’d flown down to try and get on a delivery, and helped us by asking around and texting different skippers, a bit of a word-of-mouth thing. People were super friendly. Sara’s sailing friends are well connected and everyone looks after each other, which is great.

We ended up on Bacardi. We went to The Quiet Little Drink event on New Year’s Day. Brett Avery, one of the owners of Bacardi, was asking around for delivery crew, as his crew got food poisoning. A good friend of mine and Sara’s said, “I know just the two people.” We met up with Brett and had a beer and he said, “You guys can come. We’re leaving tomorrow in the afternoon. See you at the dock.” He didn’t really ask any questions.

He said it would be the three of us and we said, “Woah, is that enough people?” But he does loads of deliveries. The boat has an autopilot and a furling headsail. He said it’d be super easy with glamour weather.

That boat has an amazing reputation for being comfy, and it’s done a heap of Sydney Hobarts, and Brett is super experienced, so it was a no-brainer. I was fired up.

How was the delivery?

We sailed up the West Coast of Tasmania, and had around 15 to 20 knots of wind from the south the whole time, and a low sea state. The weather was amazing.

On the first night it was super easy sailing. We had a beanbag up in the cockpit that we’d chill in. It was a full moon, magical.

It was a deep run the whole time. We went up the West Coast between Bruny Island and mainland Tasmania. There were dolphins and seals, a definite highlight. And we got some amazing sunrises.

What was your watch system like with three people on board?

We did two on four off [one person on deck at a time]. There was a lot of checking the AIS, and we didn’t have much in the way of managing the sails.

Did you make any stops along the way?

We kept trucking along. Brett said there was one spot up the West Coast where we can pull over. We saw a few people buzz in there on the AIS. But with the forecast, he said it’d be silly to stop, and he was right. We ploughed through to Melbourne. It was comfy. I was like, “What’s the Bass Strait all about? This is a dream!” And everyone was laughing, going, “Mate, you’re going to get belted next time you come through.”

Why did Brett decide on the West Coast rather than the East?

The forecast was better. We had consistent breeze from the south, while the East Coast was quite patchy with lumpy swell.

Where Brett was really excited about going up the West Coast, I was a bit trepidatious. I’ve heard about the West Coast. It’s regarded as super rugged.

Before the trip, I read Back From The Dead, a biographical book about a group of guys in a life raft that floated around the West Coast for ages. I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t know about this.’ But the forecast was right.

Where there any challenges?

I spread my stuff everywhere. I wasn’t very organised. It was a challenge, getting changed in and out of your gear and then you end up, for example, leaving your glasses somewhere. My stuff ended up all over the boat where everyone else was very organised.

It was still bumpy at times, I was expecting something way worse, but I did get a bit seasick. So that was a challenge, sleeping when you’re feeling queasy.

What was the food like?

Bacardi must be the best fed race team in the comp. We had leftover race food. They had these pre-made meals that the crew had cooked and vacuum sealed. We had pasta and chicken curry. It was like an actual home cooked meal.

What were the main lessons learned from this delivery?

For my cruising trip, I had been thinking, ‘Can I do this? Is it achievable? It seems like a bit of a stretch.’ Doing this delivery was a huge confidence boost. Sailing is just sailing, whether you’re inshore or offshore. There are obviously some different considerations, but at the end of the day, the way you sail the boat is the same. I have the skills to do this longer trip I want to do. I need to be a bit more prepared and a bit better organised, but fundamentally it’s achievable.

Is the Rolex Sydney Hobart still a goal?

Absolutely. Seeing the Hobart Race Village blew me away.

It was incredible – the atmosphere, the spirit and the history of the race. You sense it immediately when you’re down there. I thought, ‘Wow, this is something special.’

I would definitely love to do the race. Doing deliveries is a good way to be in the community to work up to it. I’ll do a bit more cruising, a few more deliveries, and then some racing to understand that side of things better.

What’s your advice for sailors who would like to take the leap into the offshore world and get on a delivery crew from Hobart?

It’s 100 per-cent worth it. Even if you don’t get a lift, to go down there and enjoy the village and atmosphere is super incredible. To fly back wouldn’t have been a failure.  I’d definitely go down to Hobart, take the plunge.