Every year on Boxing Day the massed dash down the Harbour to The Heads forms the iconic start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.

It’s a much-loved tradition, but the 628nm offshore epic hasn’t always begun that way. In its early days the race commenced with the fleet sailing in the opposite direction.

The original starting line was off Cannae Point in North Harbour, giving the yachts a much more pleasant little sweep through The Heads before setting their course South.

As a tribute to those early days the veteran Sydney-Hobart yachts racing in a special two-day regatta will begin their race on Sunday 8 December from that original starting line. If the expected North East breeze arrives, they will make a spectacular sight with spinnakers flying.

More than 30 classic (pre-1975) yachts have entered for this unique regatta that has taken more than a year to plan and organise. The fleet includes five previous handicap winners – Nerida, Struen Marie, Solveig, Anitra V and Love & War – plus legendary line-honours champions Margaret Rintoul, Fidelis and Kialoa II.

But the sentimental favourite will be Wayfarer, which competed in the first race to Hobart back in 1945 and still holds the record for the slowest elapsed time – 11 days and 6 hours.

That leisurely trip took just a tiny bit longer than Comanche’s current record of 1 day, 9 hours. Mind you, the Wayfarer crew had to stop a few times to sew up their ripped sails, and went ashore on the Tasmanian coast to do a spot of rabbit shooting.

The race on Sunday 8 December will be sailed in three divisions, starting at intervals from 12:00 noon.

– Text provided by David Salter