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Sailing friends reunite for Ingles Sydney Gold Coast

Home 2004 Sailing friends reunite for Ingles Sydney Gold Coast

“Our stimulus in reuniting is the memory of Jim Lawler who was lost during the 1998 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race".

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The 60th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is already stirring the interest of many in reuniting with long time sailing friends for the Bluewater Classic with at least two yachts competing in this year’s Ingles Sydney Gold Coast Race using this mid-winter race as a precursor.

Bruce Dover’s timber Warwick 44 EZ Street has been cruising up and down the NSW coast for the past two and a half years but he and a group of friends, who have been sailing together for 25 years and have close to 80 Sydney Hobart Races between them, have decided to bring the boat up to scratch for the Ingles Sydney Gold Coast Race which starts this Saturday at 1.00pm from Sydney Harbour.

“Our stimulus in reuniting is the memory of Jim Lawler who was lost during the 1998 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race,” Dover admitted.

“Sailing together this weekend and going to Hobart in December has a lot of meaning for us because it was through him we all met”.

EZ Street was built in New Zealand in 1990 from triple skin Kauri and was briefly named Elle after it was used in a photo shoot for the well-known supermodel many years ago. Dover purchased the boat three years ago.

Victorian entry Alex, a Sydney 38 owned by Jock Macadie and named after his late father who spent nearly 70 years at sea and who reached the rank of Master Mariner, has also been used as a cruising boat for the past two years and again, it is the lure of sailing with long-term friends and the circle around December 26 on the calendar that has resulted in an entry in the Gold Coast Race this year.

Macadie has stripped the boat’s hull, given it a lick of varnish inside and has invited his SOS class friends from the 1980s for this weekend’s 384 nautical mile race that has attracted a fleet of 75. His 20 year-old son Hamish will also join the crew.

Applications to enter the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race which starts from Sydney Harbour on December 26 reached 22 today with Philip Spry-Bailey’s Magic from Victoria the latest to apply.

A long-range race weather forecast for this Saturday’s Ingles Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race indicates light conditions for the start.