ON Boxing Day, a crew of nine from Mornington Yacht Club will set sail in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race aboard the Ginan.
This will mark the first Sydney to Hobart for the boat, which is co-owned by experienced yachtsmen Cam McKenzie and Nigel Jones.
The crew is predominantly local to the peninsula and consists of Marc Jukes, Greg Patten, Tim Bilham, Will McKenzie, David Kneed, James Jackson, and Ruben Gustafson.
For the crew, the race is not only a sporting challenge but a chance to showcase multiple generations united by long-standing friendships and a shared love for sailing.
Jukes said the group loves being a group of amateurs and that they are excited to compete against professional yachtsmen.
“It really means a lot for us to be sailing together as a team from the Mornington Peninsula,” Jukes said.
“Even though we span four different generations, there’s a real sort of camaraderie among us.”
Of the nine crew members, six of them have grown up sailing at Mornington Yacht Club. Among the youngest are Will McKenzie, son of owner Cam and a youth coach at Mornington, who is 22 years old, and James Jackson, a former Victorian Institute of Sport athlete who trained for Olympic selection in the 470 class.
Despite the age differences, their bond is longstanding. Some of them have been racing together for three years on Ginan, while others have been sailing together for decades.
McKenzie and Jones have been friends since the 1990s and have completed ten Sydney to Hobarts, but this will be the first on a yacht they own. They have raced together and apart on yachts designed by Jones’ father Don, who was one of Australia’s most celebrated naval architects.
Although the Ginan is new to the Sydney to Hobart, they have an impressive track record in Victorian offshore racing.
“We’ve been very successful over the last three years in just about all the races we’ve entered,” Jukes said.
Under the leadership of Jones and McKenzie, the Ginan has sailed two Melbourne to Hobarts, coming second in both, and won the 2024 King Island trophy after being the overall winners of the Melbourne to King Island Ocean Yacht Race, as well as several other races.
As the crew heads off to Sydney to prepare for the upcoming race, they are grateful for the community’s support and encouragement.
“We like to promote sailing, we like to promote youth participation, and I think it’s a good wholesome pastime for people to get involved with and we’d love their support,” Jukes said.
The crew is excited for the opportunity to compete against 140 other yachts as the 80th Sydney to Hobart takes place.
“What we enjoy is sailing as a group of friends and having that camaraderie and connection to the peninsula and trying to represent the area on a national yachting scene,” Jukes said.
First published in the Mornington News – 16 December 2025
