Despite coming 72nd of the 88 yachts that started in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Boxing Day, in the team's eyes they had won.

"It didn't matter where we came, with the Sydney to Hobart everyone who crosses the line is a winner," the skipper, Mornington obstetrician and gynaecologist Andrew Griffiths said.

The challenging voyage was the result of two years' preparation and hard work. The crew included tree lopper George Walden, marketing manager Bruce Moncrieff, ultra-sonographer Gemma Feltham, midwife Isabel Purcell, engineer Martin Purcell, filmmaker Sean Cousins, oral and maxillofacial surgeon Brian McMillan and general practitioner David Awburn. All the team, bar one from Mt Waverley, hail from the Mornington Peninsula.

The medico-heavy crew named the yacht Fullynpushing, the moment when a pregnant woman is fully dilated and ready to deliver. "There is a lot of meaning behind the name and it is very fitting for this boat," Griffiths said.

While everyone was sporting smiles when they made it to Tasmania on New Year's Eve, it was a tough race and at one point Griffiths thought they would have to pull out - about 50 kilometres from Eden, the yacht took on 1.5 tonnes of water, sparking fears it had sprung a leak.

But the crew managed to bale the water and realised the boat was undamaged, allowing the vessel to continue out into Bass Strait.

The trip marked the end of a very special journey for the Griffiths family. When Griffiths and his wife Sara discovered they could not conceive children, they turned to IVF. But after seven embryo transfers and no success they had all but given up hope.

Having always dreamt of competing in the Sydney to Hobart, Griffiths decided to pursue his sailing goal. He found a 38-foot yacht in Mornington that was a perfect fit.

And within days of handing over a cheque for the yacht, the IVF succeeded and Sara was pregnant. Now 18 months old, Rufus, and half-brother Jacob, 18, were waiting to greet Griffiths at the finish line. "Stepping onto dry land and being able to hug my waiting family was the most wonderful feeling," he said.