For the second year in a row, Canberra's Pelagic Magic has beaten perennial favourite Wild Oats XI in the Sydney to Hobart.
And their 3½ day journey is just the beginning of a cultural exchange that will see some crew members travel to Ireland for another iconic yacht race.
Pelagic Magic were met by about 30 friends and family when they crossed the finish line in 76th place at 3.45am on Friday in a time of three days, 14 hours, 45 minutes and 13 seconds.
While they were a long way behind the super-maxis vying for line honours, the Canberra boat did beat the favourite home for the second year running after Wild Oats withdrew due to a hydraulic failure.
But the crew was forced to wait agonisingly close to the finish before they could celebrate in Hobart - the last 200 metres took about 45 minutes and at times they drifted backwards.
Pelagic Magic skipper Simon Dunlop said the thrill of finishing one of the world's most iconic races quickly drove away all the negative thoughts about why they were doing the race in the first place.
"We got within 200-300m of the finish and the wind just died totally, so the last 300m took us 40-50 minutes and at one stage we were going backwards watching the finish line," he said.
"There were a few people in the crew who said, 'Do we get in trouble for swimming with a rope around us?'
"For two years in a row we've beaten Wild Oats."
The Canberra boat suffered some damage that had the potential to be race ending, but they had the luck of the Irish on board.
Dermot Cronin, from Ireland, followed Pelagic Magic through last year's race online and then contacted Dunlop about a potential exchange program.
Cronin joined them on this year's Sydney to Hobart and now Dunlop and his son Graeme will head to the northern hemisphere for the Fastnet Race - the United Kingdom's version of the Sydney to Hobart - in August.
"He got in contact with me after the race and said, 'I've got this great idea. How about some of my crew come out and do the Sydney to Hobart with you and then next year you and some of the crew fly over and do the Fastnet Race with us?' " Dunlop said.
"It was too good an offer to refuse. Win-win and just an awesome opportunity for all of us."
Dunlop will spend the next few days fixing up the Pelagic Magic after they tore two spinnakers, broke a spinnaker pole and a boom vang.
Then he'll be joined by some other sailors from the Canberra Yacht Club for a more scenic journey home.
"Pretty serious, the spinnakers were just bad luck, the spinnaker pole would've been more bad luck but more serious and the boom vang was kind of like we might not be able to finish this," he said.