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Tony Ellis will compete in his 52nd Sydney to Hobart race this year.
Sydney to Hobart record setter Tony Ellis is set to add another milestone this year to his great association with Australia's premier ocean race.
Ellis has contested the race 51 times, more than any other individual and will add to that tally this year aboard the well-performed 63-foot No Limit.
This year marks the 75th edition of the race, which started in 1945.
Ellis sailed in both the 25th in 1969 and the 50th in 1994 and there's unlikely to be too many others in that category when the 2019 race gets under way on Boxing Day.
His first Hobart was in 1963 aboard the 41-foot Salacia, the smallest boat he has raced in the event.
Since then he's sailed on boats of different lengths all the way up to a supermaxi and occupied several different positions.
Across that time Ellis forged one of the great Sydney Hobart partnerships with the legendary Syd Fischer.
Ellis enjoyed two line honours victories on one of Fischer's Ragamuffin boats in 1988 and 1990 and a handicap win on a different yacht with the same name in 1992.
Asked for his recollections of the 25th race Ellis said, "That was the second race we did on the original timber Ragamuffin, because I started sailing with Syd when he launched that boat.
"We ended up with a pretty long friendship which lasted over 41 Hobarts and about 45 years of sailing together."
No Limit might help add to that record as it showed it's capabilities last year by finishing third overall and winning the IRC division 1.
Ellis participated in two of the toughest Hobart races, in 1993 and 1998.
"The waves in '98 were worse but didn't last for the time (in) '98, (that) was days and days," Ellis recalled.
In his first Hobart he recalled seeing snow on Mount Wellington and Mount Robertson and being pounded by waves.
Ellis has witnessed countless technological advances across his long association with Australia's most famous ocean race.
"The biggest change has been in the materials, from the hull, the mast, the rigging, sails," he said.
"Everything right through just gets lighter and lighter.
"You're putting yourself at a bit of a disadvantage if you don't have dedicated navigators because of the electronics and the information that you can get and also got to be able to unscramble all the information to make sure you are not getting led astray with too much information."
