Office worker Paul Kimber has watched many Sydney to Hobart yacht races, usually while enjoying Christmas leftovers and family catch-ups.
On Boxing Day night this year, he was clinging to a railing aboard eventual line honours winner LawConnect as the 100ft supermaxi navigated an electrical storm.
Kimber was among four employees of legal technology company LEAP who won a spot on the yacht for the 628-nautical-mile bluewater classic.
"I was too scared to let go of the railing to actually get down below," he told AAP about the first-night weather.
"I was just stuck like a deer in the headlights for about 10 minutes. Just terrified.
"Ty (Oxley, the boat's captain), who is ex-military, came up and told me in no uncertain terms to crawl on my knees and get down below; to get out of the way, pretty much."
Kimber, a development operations manager whose job is to "sit behind a desk", had tasks including sail handling and GoPro camera filming.
The rookie group of four underwent crash courses in sailing and water safety, and passed practical and written exams before setting off.
Cyber security architect Yehan Gunaratne was involved in several twilight sailings as part of an after-work club set up by the company.
He was in charge of LawConnect's on board live-stream and said all the on-deck cameras went down.
"I'm still processing. It's been a great adventure," Gunaratne, who suffered seasickness on the opening day, said.
"It was rough weather (but) hell yeah, I would do it again."
LawConnect came from behind up the River Derwent to pip fellow supermaxi Andoo Comanche by just 51 seconds on Thursday morning in the race's second-closest race finish ever.
"I had given up the ghost and was having a kip on board," Kimber said.
"All of a sudden people were like, 'We're gaining on them'. We had the wind and then all of a sudden it was game on."
In a pre-race blog post, Kimber said he had previously watched the Sydney to Hobart from a distance.
"Halfway through the race if you had asked me (if I wanted to do it again) it would have been a firm no," he said.
"I was freezing cold and soaked to the bone.
"Now I would do it for sure."
