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Forecast southerly set to break light wind hoodoo

Home 2006 Forecast southerly set to break light wind hoodoo

Grant Wharington's Skandia

With a 20-30 knot sou’wester forecast to blow for the first 18 hours of the Sydney Gold Coast, the race record of 27 hours 35 minutes 3 seconds looks certain to be smashed.

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With a 20-30 knot sou’wester forecast to blow for the first 18 hours of the Sydney Gold Coast, the race record of 27 hours 35 minutes 3 seconds looks certain to be smashed but the skipper most likely to challenge the seven year record isn’t clearing space in his trophy cabinet just yet.

“Skandia is capable of doing this race in 20 hrs but it’s a question of how consistent the breeze is,” says Grant Wharington, skipper of the 30 metre Melbourne maxi who will be sailing light with his Volvo Ocean Race crew of 11 before they rejoin the round-the-world race in early May.

“We’ve done this race many times before, including taking line honours twice with my previous boat, but the breeze always seems to fade at the end,” Wharington added.

Skandia has to maintain a 13.93 knot average speed to beat the seven year old Sydney Gold Coast record and give the maxi her second fastest time for an Australian east coast race having also set a new record in the Brisbane to Gladstone Race in 2004.

While the waterline length of the largest boats contesting these northern races has increased considerably since George Snow’s Jutson 79 Brindabella set the record in 1999, a howling southerly is yet to push the fleet all the way north to the finish line in record time. 

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sean Carson will tonight deliver the good news to the big boat skippers at the 6.00pm Race Briefing that although the breeze is forecast to “back off” on Sunday to between 10 and 20 knots, the light wind hoodoo at the race finish looks like coming to end this year.  For the smaller boats, the news isn’t so good.  While most of the fleet will make big gains in the first 48 hours, the southerlies are expected to flick to the nor’east on Monday which will slow the back of the fleet down and put the handicap trophies out of reach.

Prior to Saturday’s 1.00pm race start from Sydney Harbour, the Bureau will present the final race forecast to the 42 skippers contesting the 384 race which will finish off Main Beach at Southport, Queensland.

Sydney 38 skipper Martin Hill is looking forward to an exciting first night at sea on Estate Master. “We’ll strap ourselves down the back and watch the show as it unfolds,” said Hill this afternoon.

“If the southerly hangs in for us, we are anticipating a 48 hr trip but no handicap placing. It is race tailor made for the big boats,” he admits.

Following a revamp of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s sailing calendar, the Sydney Gold Coast now marks the end of the Club’s offshore racing season and seven race Blue Water Championship Series which includes the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Of the 42 yachts entered, three are former Rolex Sydney Hobart overall winning yachts – MDBS Koomooloo, Quest (now Quest of Queensland) and Ragamuffin, and two are former line honours winners – Skandia and Infinity III (ex Brindabella).

A talented line up of former Rolex Sydney Hobart overall winning skippers, namely Michael Spies (Sirromet Life Style Wine), Syd Fischer (Ragamuffin), Geoff Ross (Yendys), Ed Psaltis (AFR Midnight Rambler) and Nigel Holman (Cuckoos Nest) will be vying for top handicap honours as will Wild Joe (Steven David), Quantum Racing (Ray Roberts), Wot's Next (Graeme Wood) and the smaller contenders, Mr Kite (Andrew Buckland & Andrew Hunn) and Tow Truck (Anthony Paterson), amongst others in the quality line up.

Three yachts will represent Victoria and one will represent New Zealand - Phil Chisholm’s chartered Sydney 38 Compass Point. Queensland will be represented by the biggest fleet from that state in years - Mike Freebairn’s MDBS Koomooloo, Kevin Miller’s Quest of Queensland, Bill Wild’s Wedgetail, Matthew Percy’s Alacrity and David Benson’s Prime Example.

The Sydney Gold Coast Race fleet now stands at 42 following late withdrawals by Broomstick, Prime Time and Cyrene 3. - Lisa Ratcliff