Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race 2024

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2012
Audi Sydney Gold Coast: Fleet Makes Quick Exit From Sydney Harbour

Audi Sydney Gold Coast: Fleet Makes Quick Exit From Sydney Harbour

NEWS
28 Jul, 2012 03:26:00 PM

Audi Sydney Gold Coast: Fleet Makes Quick Exit From Sydney Harbour

Mark Richards steered Wild Oats XI to a quick exit out of Sydney Harbour in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, which started at 1.00pm Sydney time today.

Mark Richards steered Wild Oats XI to a quick exit out of Sydney Harbour in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, which started at 1.00pm Sydney time today.

Richards timed the start perfectly, opting for the boat end on the western side of the Harbour. The crew on the Bob Oatley owned yacht unfurled the Code Zero as start signal sounded, sending the 63-boat fleet on its way north – as a ferry split the fleet, carving its way through the start line mid-start.

The Mark Bradford helmed RP66, Black Jack, owned by Peter Harburg from Queensland, was on the tail of Wild Oats XI, but the 100ft leader accelerated down Sydney Harbour, leaving the rest in her wake, exiting Sydney Heads in approximately six and a half minutes, as she headed offshore. “The view looking back was quite something with all the spinnakers,” navigator Adrienne Cahalan said from the lead yacht.

The rest of the fleet followed, as Principal Race Officer, Denis Thompson called a clear start, only to get a call from the yacht Nautical Circle, the Archambault 40 owned by Ian Prentice, to say they had mainsail problems and had taken shelter in Mosman. The yacht headed back to the start 38 minutes late.

Stephen Ainsworth’s prized RP63, Loki, followed Oatley’s super maxi through the Heads, living up to her reputation, with defending champion, Living Doll, the Farr 55 owned by Victorian Michael Hiatt, right on her transom. Another Victorian, Nicholas Bartels’ Cookson 50, Terra Firma, was also up in the money.

Next came Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin, with Atlanta Olympian Matt Hayes at helm, with Calm, Jason Van der Slot’s Victorian entry just astern, in what is sure to be a great battle of the ‘TP52’s – there are six in the 384 nautical mile race.

Offshore, Wild Oats XI was averaging 20 knots in 21 knots of sou/south-westerly breeze and had already put some distance on the bulk of the fleet.

Aboard Rob Reynolds’ DK46, Exile, navigator Julie Hodder reported at 2.40pm, “We have our sistership Nine Dragons (Bob Cox’s same design) right next to us where she needs to be. The wind was almost due south when we first came out of the Heads, so we were straight-lining it to Seal Rocks.

“Wind is now more south/south-west - 184 degrees, which is more in line with the forecast, so we’re now heading out to sea a bit. We’re about mid-fleet doing about 10-11 knots in 17 knots of breeze,” Hodder said.

It’s been a few years since competitors in the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race fleet have been told they will have a fast spinnaker ride all the way to Southport and they will have to get their heads around staying out to sea, as conditions dictate. Normally the race is what’s known as a ‘rock-hopper’, as yachts tend to hug the coast a fair bit of the race.

Equally, it is difficult to predict favourites for overall honours. It could be Wild Oats XI, if she gets a big enough lead on the fleet, or some of those which were designed for off the breeze sailing, such as Bruce Taylor’s Caprice 40, Chutzpah (Vic) and Ed Psaltis/Bob Thomas/Michael Bencsik’s 12 month old Ker 40, AFR Midnight Rambler, which is yet to show her much touted offshore potential.

However, those in the know are still predicting Living Doll, Loki, Geoff Boettcher’s RP51, Secret Mens Business 3.5 from South Australia, Calm and Ragamuffin.

At 3.00pm, Brad Kellett reported from Brindabella: “We know we can’t keep up with the bigger newer boats right now; we don’t have enough breeze – it’s 17 knots sou/south-westerly – it’s gone a bit further to the south than we first thought.

“We can just see Wild Oats XI – but she’s nearly out of sight. We need more breeze, and for it to go further west,” Kellett reported from his position at Avoca.

“At the moment it isn’t looking like a record-breaking conditions for us, but we’re having a beautiful sail anyway,” he said.

At the time of Kellett’s report, Black Jack was 4.7 nautical behind Wild Oats XI and Loki 5.5nm behind.

At 3.25pm, Adrienne Cahalan reported: “We’re (Wild Oats XI) about 25nm offshore, running in a 20-25 knot southerly, doing boat speed of about 20-25 knots. Very nice sailing conditions.”

Aboard Living Doll, navigator Will Oxley was more concerned about the sea state than anything else: “The big questions are how to deal with the expected very bad sea state, as the current, wind and seas build in synchrony. Gybe to go inshore, or push on to try to get outside the worst of the current? Time will tell,” he said.

“For now, though, with the wind out of 185 degrees, everyone is stuck on starboard gybe really,” said Oxley.

Follow the race action on http://goldcoast.cyca.com.au or on Twitter http://twitter.com/asgcyr