"We go ocean swimming every morning, do a kilometre out in the sea," the 70-year-old Sydney to Hobart yacht race veteran said.

Boxing Day looks a little different for Adriaanse this year, whose hopes of sailing in his 30^th Sydney to Hobart were delayed for at least 12 months.

Usually he is long gone from the family home in Bawley Point by this stage. A normal year sees extended family converge on the south coast from different parts of the country.

A Christmas Eve dinner is followed by a mad scramble in the morning to unwrap all the presents.

"By that stage my brain is somewhere else anyway, I'm starting to think about the race. I usually take off about 10am and make my way over to Sydney," Adriaanse said.

"This year we'll do what we can do, given the various impediments like the disease and bushfire risks. We just take it as it comes, it's nice to have my kids there and we'll have a bit of fun with the locals.

"We have a cricket day we organise at Bawley Point, that's on New Year's Day, used to do a bonfire at the beach at Bawley Point. Usually I was back from the race on New Year's Eve to partake in all of that.

"I'm part of marine rescue these days, there are a lot of fishermen that go out there, it's highly likely a fisher will get into some difficulty, so we then go out and rescue them, do a search and rescue.

"That's another part of my life."

Since 1986 the famed yacht race has been among the biggest parts of Adriaanse's life, racking up three wins along the way - twice for line honours on board Brindabella and once for corrected time on Love & War.

But the iconic race has been cancelled for the first time in its 76-year history, with organisers admitting border restrictions forced by Sydney's coronavirus outbreak made it impossible to stage.

Yet Adriaanse, who raced last year while bushfires threatened his home town and left his kids on the NSW south coast with no power, was prepared for the agonising call to be made.

"We made a call two months ago that it was not going to be a good idea to run the race," Adriaanse said.

"We had this vision that you can bring your crew together, but even if you bring your crew together from different states, some states are clear of the disease but one state may not be.

"Then there's no guarantee the sailors there are free of corona. You're in a four-day race together, infecting each other, then you get to the end and you've got the whole dilemma of what do you do then? Do you turn the boat around?

"We thought the race committee was being too optimistic about not calling the race off at that time, and I think everybody was optimistic about the fact there would be a cure or somehow we were going to get rid of the disease.

"There's a lot at stake here, that's the trouble. You've got sponsors pouring their dollars in, they want their dollars back.

"Does the CYC [Cruising Yacht Club] suffer from not having those entry fees and having to refund them? All their budgets are going to be completely thrown around."

Adriaanse says you can never take selection for granted, yet those aboard Love & War are already planning for next year.

The boat's owner is desperate to win on corrected time for a fourth occasion, which would send it one win clear of Freya in the record books.

But that's next year's problem. For now, Adriaanse has time for the little things, like spending his entire Christmas Day with family, an ocean swim on Boxing Day, and a round of golf.

It's hardly going to get his heart racing like sailing across the ocean in pursuit of history, but earlier this week it gave him almost just as much satisfaction.

"The very last putt of the day, I got it in right from the side of the green, so I was ecstatic," Adriaanse said.