Parry is a highly regarded sailing instructor and world-sailor that has circumnavigated the globe more than once - but next week she will contest the Melbourne to Hobart yacht race as part of a record-setting all-female two-hand crew alongside Lisa Blair.

Parry said she always enjoyed a challenge and found it remarkable that it had never been done by a two-woman crew.

"There has never been just a two-woman crew, so for me I always find it hard to say no if something challenges me," she said.

"Setting the record is attractive, but we're part of a 4000-strong Facebook group called Women Who Sail Australia, we're showing that women can get out there and do it.

"Women can do this."

The duo will race almost 450 nautical miles from Melbourne down the western coast of Tasmania then around to Hobart in Blair's 50-foot racing yacht SV Climate Action Now where the pair expect conditions could get pretty wild.

"A lot of people consider the West Coaster a tougher race than the Sydney to Hobart because it's that west coast and we're both fully aware we'll probably get dealt everything," Parry said.

"We've just got to be ready for anything."

The duo had a taste of the roaring 40s in a five-day sail of the boat from Sydney into Melbourne, but Parry said it was wonderful to get to grips with it and learn the lines.

"I've sailed 33 and 50-footers with my husband, but those were heavier and slower blue water cruisers," she said.

"This is a racing boat, it's fast and not the easiest boat to manage, but it is set up extremely well - I had some concerns as the boat is built a bit like a bullet and very complex with 40 lines [ropes] into the cockpit."

"So facing those headwinds into Melbourne I could start to feel how well the boat is set up - and Lisa has been out in 80 knots, so 40 is nothing to her," Parry added with a laugh.

Parry said she had been away from sailing for about six years and the skills were rusty, but she quickly found her sea legs and is looking forward to the challenge.

"I was a bit rusty, the experience is there, but my husband always says it's like starting a diesel motor, you have to let it warm up," she said with a laugh.

Parry said she was also excited to help spread the message of climate awareness.

"Lisa collects post-it-notes that people write in what they're doing to help the environment and the boat is covered in a vinyl wrap of them, it's a myriad colour of what people are doing to help the environment."

The Melbourne to Hobart races from December 27 at Port Phillip with sailors expected to reach Hobart around the same time as yachts from the Sydney to Hobart race.