The winner of the 4th Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Race, sailing yacht WILD OATS X claims her victory, by taking out the overall IRC result and claiming the Club Marine Cup. The victory marks the end of the 2010 race, hosted by Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.
Lahana and Wild Oats X - Image credit to Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Race
The race started on Friday 6 August at 1500 hours just east of Green Island on Brisbane’s Moreton Bay.
The final boat to cross the finishing line was the Hunter 45CC Tiara skippered by Randolph Ingram.
“We finally made it and it was great to be able to join the celebrations which went well into the night,” said Ingram.
Peter Millard and his crew on the 98′ maxi Lahana have set a new race record of 27 hours, 11 minutes and 22 seconds. Lahana and Wild Oats X, skippered by Mark Richards, crossed the finish line just 22 seconds apart after a challenging 348 nautical mile battle up the tropical Queensland coast.
Lahana also placed second on IRC in the overall and Division 1 result.
Bill Wild and his Hugh Welbourne 42 Wedgetail crew placed third on IRC both overall and in Division 1.
“It was great to be back again this year and are proud of our achievement,” said Wild. “The boys worked hard all race and to take a place just tops it off nicely.”
Wedgetail had an interesting start to their Brisbane to Keppel campaign with their new sails being sent to Angola in Africa instead of Brisbane, Australia.
“Our sails will have done more miles in a Fedex box than they will ever do at sea,” said Wild.
“Their trip so far has been from New Zealand to Angola (Africa), Caribbean, Dominican Republic and are now finally bound for Brisbane.
“The battens arrived today, but the sails missed the plane. They must have been having a drink at the airport bar,” laughed Wild.
Just 24 hours prior to the race start the Wedgetail crew was forced to have an old sail re-cut to ensure it measured in with their new IRC rating.
Brisbane sailor Lew Perrins and his Farr 30 Italian Job took out IRC Division 2 which is a major coy for the class.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard the results,” said Lew. “We just sailed as hard as we could but really had no idea that we had won. The guys are pretty happy and we are looking forward to doing it all again next year.”
Lahana and Wild Oats X - Image credit to Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Race
Sydney sailor Darryl Hodgkinson and his Beneteau 45 crew on Victoire finished second in the IRC Division 2 with Gilbert Ford sailing the Hick Schooner Ceilidh Lass to third.
Peter Mosely on board Local Hero and his enthusiastic crew were delighted to have won the overall and Division 1 PHS category.
“We had a beautiful sail up the coast and enjoyed the live video skyping with the race committee. We had the laptop on deck so they could check out our sailing,” said Mosely.
Tony Kinsman on the Beneteau First 40.7 Blunderbuss placed second on PHS both overall and in Division 2. Third in PHS Division 2 was the Sydney 41 Southern Cross Yachting skippered by Michael Job.
“I can’t believe I won a prize!” laughed Job.
“We did the race with a relatively new bunch of sailors so getting a place will hopefully give them the encouragement to continue racing,” said Job.
Rod Jones and his new weapon Alegria IV, the GP42 finished third overall on PHS and first in the PHS Division 1.
Behind Alegria IV in PHS Division 1 was Wedgetail. Crew member Peter Elkington said that he couldn’t believe how fast the new GP42 was.
“That thing just trucks along at an awesome pace,” said Elkington.
Six Farr 40’s both one design and modified entered this year’s race giving the fleet a chance to have their own division.
The Farr 40 Type Division was based on elapsed time with Bribie Star skippered by Ken Down being the first to cross the line at Keppel Bay.
“We reached our goal of being the first one home but it wasn’t an easy race,” said Ken’s son and fellow crew member Lucas.
“The lead changed quite a few times which made everything pretty interesting. We found a few parking lots out there and had to really work to get the lead back,” continued Lucas.
The crew on the Sydney 36 Gauntlet won the Navigators prize with a predicted ETA just 8 minutes and 16 seconds out from their actual finish time.
“Like all the boats we ‘guessed’ our time when crossing the Tropic of Capricorn and got lucky!” said an excited crew member Sean Trotter.
During the presentation Keppel Bay Sailing Club and Capricorn Cruising Yacht Club were thanked for their support of the event.
RQYS Sailing Committee Chairman Mark Gallagher said that without the support of the local clubs the event would be very difficult to run.
“The Keppel Bay Sailing Club and Capricorn Cruising Yacht Club made their boats and volunteers available to assist with bringing crew ashore who had to make flights and for media to capture the race as boats crossed the finish line,” said Gallagher.
Kylie Smith, General Manager of Keppel Bay Marina said that is was an honour to be the finishing destination for the Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race.
“We are so proud to be associated with this race and it’s one of big highlights of the year,” said Smith during the presentation.
The last of the boats and crews have now departed from Keppel Bay Marina with most now travelling north to continue Queensland’s Season of Sailing. Airlie Beach Race Week is the next event on the racing calendar followed by Hamilton Island Race Week and Magnetic Island Race Week.
The Winner - Wild Oats X - Image courtesy of Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Race
Results
Line Honours – Lahana (Peter Millard)
IRC Overall
1 Wild Oats X (Mark Richards)
2 Lahana (Peter Millard)
3 Wedgetail (Bill Wild)
IRC Division 1
1 Wild Oats X (Mark Richards)
2 Lahana (Peter Millard)
3 Wedgetail (Bill Wild)
IRC Division 2
1 Italian Job (Lew Perrins)
2 Victoire (Darryl Hodgkinson)
3 Ceilidh Lass (Gilbert Ford)
PHS Overall
1 Local Hero (Peter Mosely)
2 Blunderbuss (Tony Kinsman)
3 Alegria IV (Rod Jones)
