On a hot December Sunday, racial tensions boiled over at Sydney's Cronulla beach. The fuse had been lit a week earlier by an altercation between off-duty lifesavers and men described by police as "of middle eastern appearance".

The 1998 Sydney to Hobart race was a moment when nature asserted its dominance with terrifying force. Six lives were lost, five yachts sank and hundreds of sailors were pulled into a brutal fight for survival.