Hang On Tight. It’s Time for the Rollicking Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Australians call it the Great Race for good reason.

The annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, which starts on Thursday, takes sailors on a 628-nautical mile race that exits Sydney Harbor and plunges south along the New South Wales coastline before crossing Bass Strait, rounding Tasman Island, crossing Tasmania’s Storm Bay and pushing up the River Derwent to Hobart.

The race has a history of often challenging teams with brutal offshore conditions that have cost lives, sunk yachts and broken dreams. Yet race veterans said that it was these challenges, along with the chance to win the race’s top trophy — the Tattersall Cup — and the friendships that were forged, that repeatedly drew them away from their families over the holidays.

The race, which is run by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, began in 1945 with nine yachts. This year, more than 100 yachts plan to compete.

While veterans said that every year was challenging, some years were rougher than others. The East Australian Current generally flows south along the New South Wales coastline at about one to four knots. When the wind blows from the north, sailors enjoy fast passage toward Hobart, but when it comes from the south — pitting wind against water — things can get rough.

“At some point in time in the race, the chances are you’re going to get what we call a southerly buster,” Lindsay May, a three-time Tattersall Cup winner who has competed in 50 consecutive races, said in a phone interview. “That wind is going to come in at plus-30 knots, maybe 40 knots, maybe a lot higher.”

May called 1984 his roughest race. “We had extraordinary seas,” he said. “I was greatly concerned for boat and crew.”