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  • Loki third yacht to beat Brindabella’s Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race record

Loki third yacht to beat Brindabella’s Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race record

Loki third yacht to beat Brindabella’s Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race record

Loki third yacht to beat Brindabella’s Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race record

As George Snow was getting used to his 13 year-old Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race record falling to Wild Oats XI, he was safe in the knowledge that Brindabella still held the record for a conventionally ballasted yacht – that is until Stephen Ainsworth skippered his RP63, Loki, home inside the record time of 27hrs 35min 43sec off Southport this afternoon.

As George Snow was getting used to his 13 year-old Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race record falling to Wild Oats XI, he was safe in the knowledge that Brindabella still held the record for a conventionally ballasted yacht – that is until Stephen Ainsworth skippered his RP63, Loki, home inside the record time of 27hrs 35min 43sec off Southport this afternoon.

Ainsworth was amazed to hear his yacht now holds that record: “I like it,” he said, hopefully we can hang on and win overall – that would make it 1-2-1 for this race, which isn’t an easy thing to do,” he said.

The pedigreed Loki, with her strong crew line-up, crossed the Main Beach, Southport finish line at 3.52.39 today, only needing to finish by 4.35.42 to claim her piece of history in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s annual race. Loki’s official race time was 26hrs 52mins 39sec.

“That was a wild race,” Ainsworth said. “I remember seeing 33 knots on our boat speed dial, and then there was so much water and spray I couldn’t see the dial anymore. Half the crew was under water – it was like being on a sub – the full fire hose treatment!”

Navigator, Michael Bellingham, who has been sailing with Ainsworth for some years, chipped in: “That’s the first time I can ever discussed tactics coming to the finish of this race in daylight.”

Ainsworth, looking tired, said: “It was a good but hard race and freezing last night, but we got the best weather forecast you could ask for – we were lucky the wind held in.” 

Loki is without doubt one of the most successful yachts in Australian waters, having broken many records, won the 2010 Audi IRC Australian Championship and the CYCA’s Blue Water Pointscore Series and then the Rolex Sydney Hobart in December.

“The boat is so solid. We gave it a good hammering last night and it stood up to it; so did my crew, they were great,” Ainsworth said.

Loki won the Audi Sydney Gold Coast in 2010, and just missed out last year, placing second to Living Doll. With the bulk of the fleet still on the race course, Loki’s fate will probably not be known until tomorrow.

At the moment, Loki leads Black Jack and Wild Oats XI overall, and the three will be hard to beat.

 

Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin had been leading the race on handicap till this morning, but at the time of writing, had fallen to sixth overall.

Fischer’s friend and navigator of 40 years, Tony Ellis, explained at 5.15pm today: “We were having a quick race until the breeze dropped out between 8.00 and 9.00am this morning. We’re about to gybe out from Cape Byron, so we’ve got around 50 miles to go – we’ll be there in five or six hours. Oh well, at least we’ll be the best of the TP52’s,” he said.  

Early today, Paul Clitheroe reported from his Beneteau 45, Balance: “Just gorgeous out here, bit of breeze overnight, we were close in, but still saw gusts to early 30's. Suspect those well out had a bumpy night.

“Very light for those of us close in to the coast this afternoon, but plenty of whales and slow but pleasant sailing. The southerly will pick us up later tonight and it should be a good run home.

“Great race for the lightweight boats, yet to see a headsail, which is far from ideal for the heavy boats such as Balance. At least it looks like we’ll be in good time on Monday for a Queensland seafood dinner,” he said.
 
Although a fairly straightforward race, with only five boats retiring so far, Phil Simpfendorfer’s Veloce from Victoria the latest casualty after losing all of her halyards.

Others have had their difficulties in the big conditions, some reporting electric problems, water getting to their equipment, some reporting sail damage and sea sickness.

Paul Lindemann, owner of the Victorian Beneteau 50, Biddy Hu II, reported today: “Hard night last night – it was horrible. We were horizontal with kite problems and sustained minor damage to hatch and pole kicker.”

Aboard Brindabella, sailing master Brad Kellett admitted: “I think going 60 miles out (off the coast) might have been a bit too far, so we probably won’t get in until 8pm tonight, which is outside of the boat’s record time.

“Last night was a sensational ride offshore – 25-30 knots of breeze – we had a reef in the main and our A5 up. It was like flying in a 20 year old 747 jumbo; 16 knot average boat speed throughout the night.

“On the first sked yesterday, Loki was 50nm ahead of us, and at the morning sked, she was still 50nm ahead. We’re currently in a cat fight with Calm – working our hardest to stay in front of her and beat her across the line,” Kellett signed off.

On Rob Reynolds DK46, Exile from Middle Harbour Yacht Club, the main problem involved a mixture of sail and lasagne. Navigator and MHYC Commodore, Julie Hodder takes up the story.

“The sail repairers were repairing the spinnaker in my galley whilst I was cooking lasagne in the oven. Ben the sail repairer (the one who stole the extra egg and bacon sandwich this morning) decided to open the oven door, as he thought he saw a bit of smoke and was becoming worried about his dinner.

“Not being a cook on a boat, he opened the oven door and the lasagne flew out - all over the sail he was repairing! He was a little worried, and I said ‘no problem, we just have to scrape it up (the lasagne) and serve it’, which we did. Nobody would have been any the wiser if someone else had not dobbed us in.

“Anyway, it was nice (the lasagne) and at least the sail had been cleaned with metho When we next want to hoist the kite tonight, the call will got out to ‘Get out the lasagne’!” 

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

By Di Pearson, CYCA Event Media