Skipper of Philippines entry Centennial, Ernesto Echauz, center, gestures with his crew ahead of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Sydney, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (Salty Dingo via AP)

SYDNEY — There have been plenty of “firsts” in the history of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race which was first held in 1945. An all-Filipino crew of 15 sailors will make it another when the annual ocean classic begins in Sydney on Thursday.

With veteran sailor Ernesto Echauz at the helm, Centennial 7 will embark on the 628-nautical mile (722 miles, 1,160 kilometers) race. One of six international entrants out of the more than 100-strong fleet, Centennial 7’s crew comprises sailors from the Philippines’ national team and the Philippines navy.

The boat itself is no stranger to the race. Previously, the TP52 yacht was known as Celestial and claimed the Sydney to Hobart overall handicap victory in 2022 under Sam Haynes after being runner-up the year before.

When shipping their own boat from the Philippines proved too difficult, Haynes helped keep the dream alive by selling Celestial to Echauz in September. Haynes will still contest the Sydney-Hobart race on board a new Celestial.

“I never knew that it was going to be this boat,” Echauz told Australian Associated Press. “We acquired Celestial right away because we were told that it’s ready to do the Sydney to Hobart.

“We went through the paperwork, and the most important thing is to be able to get the whole crew, 15 Filipinos. They got surprised that, hey, we’re going to bring all of the Filipinos. It’s a dream come true for all of us. We never expected that we’ll be able to join.”

The race takes the yachts down the New South Wales state south coast, across the often notorious Bass Strait and to the island state of Tasmania, ending in the state capital Hobart after sailing the last portion of the race on the Derwent River.

:Last year, LawConnect won line honors i n the 78th edition of the Sydney to Hobart, holding off defending champion Andoo Comanche by less than a minute in an exciting finish between the super maxis. The pair of 100-foot yachts had dueled for much of the race and were well ahead of the rest of the fleet of 103 yachts that started last year’s race.

LawConnect, which was runner-up in the last three editions of the race, finished in 1 day, 19 hours, 3 minutes, 58 seconds. Comanche’s time was 1 day, 19 hours, 4 minutes, 49 seconds — a margin of just 51 seconds.

It was the second-closest finish in Sydney to Hobart history after Condor of Bermuda beat Apollo by seven seconds in 1982. Comanche holds the race record of 1 day, 9 hours, 15 minutes, 24 seconds, set when it won the race in 2017.

Echauz’s crew in March finished second by five minutes to rivals Happy Go in a close finish to the China Sea Race, after claiming line honors on board Centennial 5 last year.

The agreement to buy energy from reactors built by Kairos Power came just weeks after word that Three Mile Island, the site of America’s worst nuclear accident, will restart operations to provide energy to Microsoft.

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“We’ve been sailing with each other for years, for decades,” Echauz said. “They are dinghy sailors. Eventually, when we started sailing big boats, we would sail together. We’ve been sailing in Hong Kong, which is the sailing center for Asia for big boats, but the standard here is a way, way different. It’s a completely different level.”

The crew placed 12th overall in the Cabbage Tree Island Race near Sydney earlier this month, their first race in Australian waters.

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“We just want to finish it. Just finish wellponeclub, and hopefully nothing breaks and hopefully nobody gets hurt and we don’t make any mistakes,” Echauz said.