Andrea Davey quit her day job processing paperwork in the Sydney to Hobart's front office to take a chance on her dream career of sailing professionally.

A little more than a year later, the 26-year-old's second trip to Hobart comes ahead of preparations for a solo race that's more than six times as long.

For two and a half years, Davey worked at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia reviewing entry forms for boats wanting to compete in the Sydney-Hobart and similar offshore races.

It was a good job for someone with a long-held passion for sailing such as Davey, who grew up racing skiffs off the coast of Sydney's northern suburbs.

"It was really great, amazing for connections, so cool to be a part of the race," she told AAP.

"Unfortunately it doesn't work so well hand-in-hand with doing your own sailing, especially if you want to go offshore and do the Hobart and that sort of thing."

So when the opportunity came up to sail in last year's Sydney-Hobart, Davey took a chance on herself and gave notice.

"I think if I didn't have anything pushing me to leave, then I just would've stayed," she said.

When the original boat withdrew from the race, Davey was roped into sailing on another yacht a week out from the starting gun last Boxing Day.

White Noise placed a respectable sixth out of 20 boats in the IRC 2 division, and since then Davey has kept the dream alive.

She packed her bags and moved to Europe this year, spending three months living in the UK and three months in France.

In that time, Davey raced the FastNet and Admiral's Cup - two of international sailing's premier events - and picked up extra work helping out on boat yards.

"I'm really glad to have done my first (Hobart) race last year, having done that gave me a bit of confidence to go off and do other things," she said.

Davey beams when she talks about following her passion overseas.

"It's really kind of snowballed and taken off. I didn't think I would ever try and pursue sailing as a career, but here we are," she said.

"It's happened quite quickly."

There was never any thought to taking December off this year. Davey is one of eight crew sailing the 2025 Sydney-Hobart on 35-footer Wyuna, which previously raced under the name Kraken.

But a second Sydney-Hobart is just the beginning for Davey.

Come January, the Sydney local will return to France to start training for the 2027 Mini Transat race.

At 4050 nautical miles, it's more than six times as long as the 628nm journey from Sydney to Hobart, and will be completed on a boat that's only 21 metres in length.

It will be only Davey on board for the race, which is completed in two legs from France to the Azores - 1600km off the coast of Portugal - and then on to Guadalupe in the Caribbean.

"There's 90 competitors, of which the majority of the fleet is French. Being a female and a foreigner, I'm the minority by a long shot," Davey said.

"I've done quite a bit of double-handed sailing. Solo is going to be a new challenge."

Family and friends - mostly Davey's mum - have had lots of questions and concerns, and Davey herself is a little nervous for the journey, too.

"You'd be crazy to not be a little bit scared,'' she said.

"But I think in the next two years as I prepare and train and do all these qualifying races, I will be ready."

And after already reaping plenty of rewards from backing herself, it would be a brave person to write Davey off now.

"I'm so excited to learn everything that I have to learn. It's about taking on challenges," she said.