After battling a lonely Christmas in 2004, top Australian sailor Nick Moloney is glad to be back home and among friends in this year's Sydney to Hobart.

The 37-year-old from Melbourne will join British entrant Hugo Boss on Boxing Day, meaning he will get to spend Christmas not only on shore but in Australia.

Which is in stark contrast to where he was this time last year - 300 nautical miles south of Tasmania as a solo competitor in the Vendee round the world race.

"It's really amazing for me to be here," said Moloney, who took overall honours in the race in 1996.

"It's the first time I've been back in six years and last year I was out in the middle of ocean at this time on my own and emotionally that was a very difficult thing for me.

"The emotions that were running through my head at this time last year were pretty incredible ... solitude was really doing my head in, Christmas is pretty special to me, as is the Rolex Sydney Hobart."

Along with the Vendee, Moloney has also competed in the America's Cup, Whitbread Round the World and the Rolex Fastnet - but he still finds the race to Hobart very much a challenge.

"To me, the Rolex Sydney to Hobart is the toughest short offshore race," he said.

"Three days at sea isn't a big span of time for me in an offshore race but it's so difficult in the way that you go through three distinct weather systems."

"I'm yet to do a race where I haven't had a serious kicking."

Moloney also made headlines in 1998 when he became the first person to cross Bass Strait on a windsurfer.

It was the same body of water only days later that claimed six lives in a tragic Sydney to Hobart race.

"I think it's the dumbest thing I've ever done, to date," he said.

"Windsurfing across Bass Strait is a very special memory, it was a very crazy thing to do, 16 days before the 1998 Hobart, so I'm pretty fortunate in the weather window that I had.

"It was pretty hard to comprehend the two bodies of water 16 days a part ... when I was on-board Wild Thing in that edition of the race where the sea cut up pretty rough and it was obviously a dark day in the race history."

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