And the Launceston to Hobart would be a voyage to remember for Paul Badcock, his crew and his vessel Odessa.

The boat was built from scratch by Badcock across three years, and derives its namesake from the Russia translation of the word odessey.

"[It's] My design and I built it in my backyard at home," he said.

Odessa has an equally fitting model name: it's a Paul Badcock 975 after its creator and length.

A Port Dalrymple-based sailor, Badcock has raced in the Launceston to Hobart about six times - 2020 would be Odessa's first attempt at the race.

"I was pleasantly surprised with how it [Odessa] went, it had done a couple of races out on the Tamar on the Strait and it handled them well," Badcock said.

"In the 40 knots we got across the top the other day it went really well ... all the crew put in ... we were very happy with it."

Despite the efforts of Odessa and its crew, the vessel finished last in the race.

"We had a bit of difficulty around Barranjoie [Tenth] Island in the first afternoon," Badcock said. ...

"Once we got out of there it blew like mad that night and then we got out the other side of Bass Strait and we were calmed around Edison Point for about four hours so we just drifted there.

"But then the north east [winds] came in and that built during the day and blew us down near Schouten Island - we had a good run then to Maria - and then we had a nice morning sitting in the cockpit on the next day going down to Tasman Island.

"Around Tasman was fairly light but then we got some breeze across Cape Raoul, then across Storm Bay we had good breeze and through Iron Pot [Bay] we got up the river but the breeze died down in the evening and we spent a long time getting from the pot up to the finish line."

But for Badcock, the race was about fullfilling a goal to get Odessa across the line.

"We weren't really worried about where we were going to finish, we just sort of wanted to get to this stage and get down to Hobart," he said.

"For us, it didn't matter where we finished ...I've been sailing and designing boats for lots of years and in the end I thought I had to build something before I got too old.

"It's been a bit of a lifelong dream to get my own boat down to Hobart."