Especially when the Canberran factored in the pitch-black nights gliding through a highway of glowing jellyfish.

Gaddes was part of Alive's crew and finished sixth in the line honours in a time of two days, one hour, 13 minutes and 55 seconds on Saturday.

That meant only winner Comanche (1:18:30.24) and the four other supermaxi boats were in front of them - although they did manage to overtake Wild Oats XI a couple of times.

They were trying to defend their overall title from last year, but look like finishing fifth in the handicap honours about two hours behind likely winner Ichi Ban.

Alive lost time due to a ripped sail, but also because there were several "transitions" - when the wind stops as a new weather system rolls through.

"It was a good race. We didn't get the money this time, but we had a good run," Gaddes said.

"First behind the supermaxis, we won our division and I think we're currently coming fifth overall. And we won another division called ORCi.

"Fifth overall's not bad. If the breeze had've lightened off like it normally does, we would've been a good chance of winning it, but the Derwent [River] didn't help us out this time."

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Gaddes said one of the highlights of the race was the stunning scenery.

He'll spend New Year's Eve in Hobart, before taking part in races like the King of the Derwent.

But his next ocean race will be Brisbane to Gladstone at Easter.

He was unsure whether Alive would tackle next year's Sydney to Hobart or a race at Auckland instead.

"There was a lot of phosphorescence or bioluminescence in the ocean," Gaddes said.

"It's pitch black - it was quite overcast, there wasn't a lot of moon.

"You couldn't see the stars, which makes it really hard to sail, but you could see an extraordinary amount of phosphorescence around the boat.

"You could actually see the jellyfish lit up as you went past them, so it was quite an amazing experience just from a scenery point of view."

At the time of writing, the other Canberrans were still coming down Tasmania's east coast - led by Another Painkiller, which has Chris Mazur on board.