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Scene set for slow start to Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race

Home 2016 Scene set for slow start to Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race

Weather briefing at the CYCA last evening

Jane Golding, Acting Regional Director NSW, Bureau of Meteorology, advised skippers of the 75 participating boats in the 2016 Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race of a weak 5-7 southerly start to the 384 nautical mile race at last night’s briefing at race headquarters, Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. The race starts tomorrow, Saturday, 30 July, on Sydney Harbour at 1pm.

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From 4pm on Saturday, the breeze is expected to shift to the south/south-east at 5 knots, backing to the north-east and then north/north-west or north/north east, on a southerly swell the entire race, all the while under cloudy skies and potential showers.

Currently, the rest of the race will be a mix of light to moderate conditions inshore, with more pressure of up to 20 knots offshore at various stages. It will place a lot of pressure on tacticians and navigators, according to Wild Oats XI’s international navigator, Juan Vila.

“It will be a little hard tactically, as you will have to consider the tide as well. We will have to balance the tide against wind speed, but it will be the same for everyone,” says Vila who like all yachting fans, says he is looking forward to seeing how they stack up against Scallywag, the other super maxi in the fleet.

However, all was not doom and gloom. You could not dampen the enthusiasm for those whose boats benefit from light weather, and those who are new to yachting and about to start their first major offshore race.

Aaron Rowe likes to climb mountains, but said the allure of sailing captured his imagination as he watched the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart. He purchased a TP52, naming it RKO. There is a record nine TP52’s entered in the Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race and Rowe can’t wait to get started as this race prepares him for his ‘Everest’ in December.

With eight other TP52 designs in the race, Rowe says: “I don’t expect us to be at the top in our first race, but I am excited to be sailing my first offshore race.”

Seng Huang Lee is a new yacht owner too. He also has an Everest to surmount when he takes on the Oatley family’s race record holder, Wild Oats XI with Scallywag (ex-Ragamuffin 100), for the first time. Lee owns a cruising yacht, but this is a first yacht racing experience for the 41 year-old.

Scallywag’s skipper, David Witt, is upbeat. “We’re lighter than Wild Oats, with more sail area, so the light breeze will suit us and SH (Lee) is looking forward to his first race.”

It will be a battle of the Whitsunday islands when the two 100 foot super maxis go head-to-head, as the Oatleys own Hamilton Island, while Lee owns Hayman Island. It is unlikely Wild Oats XI’s record of 22hrs 3mins 43secs set in 2012 will tumble, given the forecast.

Joining them at the front end is a trio of V70’s; Peter Harburg’s Black Jack, Jim Delegat’s Giacomo from New Zealand and Maserati, newly purchased by Sydney’s Jim Cooney, along with Rupert Henry’s JV62, Chinese Whisper.    

The Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race starts on Saturday off Nielsen Park, Vaucluse and finishes at Main Beach on the Gold Coast.

All information on the Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race is on the official race website: http://goldcoast.cyca.com.au   

Di Pearson, CYCA media