Sailing off to fight monster over the horizon IT'S out there. The storm. Ninety-four yachts began the Sydney-Hobart. The Australiana of it all, the kaleidoscope of colour. Parklands and headlands were full to overflowing. Tourists quaffed champagne and beers on a patchwork of picnic blankets. Locals toasted their sporting and cultural institution: on Boxing Days like these, when a moderate-to-stiff sou'easter is skimming across the gorgeous expanse of water between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, it's the race that can soothe a nation.