Rod Jones has made two significant changes to the 50-foot Alegria V Audi Sunshine Coast in preparation for this weekend’s Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race. 

He has installed powered winches and altered his crew combination. Even with the resultant rating penalty, Jones is confident these changes will deliver a good outcome on two key issues -  efficiency and crew management – both in the Gold Coast race and in real target of the campaign, this year’s Hobart race. 

Since the changes have been implemented Jones has taken his team through two intensive training runs to get used to the new systems. “The first one we had a few hiccups. It highlighted procedural errors that may have crept into the way we were doing things. We have had to correct those, like if the halyards are on the wrong side of the forestay and you pull it up with a powered winch, you really know about it, ” Jones said. 

The second one he reported was much smoother sailing as the crew settled into the use of the powered winches over the 160 nautical mile training run from home port Mooloolaba down to the Gold Coast. 

“The gear on a 50 footer is heavy and you use a lot of energy handling the gear. The powered winches are taking that load off the bodies of the crew.

“We are hoping that the result will be that we will sail the boat at a higher level of efficiency for longer because we won’t all be the doing the physical work, we won’t be tiring as early. And for speed, they are a hell of a lot quicker than the pedestals. 

“The rating penalty for the Hobart race on an average Hobart is about 12.8 minutes, so we have to be 12.8 minutes faster approximately. That is not significant given that the spinnaker goes to the top of the mast twice as quick as it used to.” 

With the powered winches reducing the need for a higher number of physically strong crew, Jones has bought his team number down to 12 experienced sailors with an emphasis on tactical skills. Several of them have multiple offshore and one-design wins on their CVs. Joining him from previous IRC national championship winning campaigns are bowman Kai Timm, Dale Sharp, navigator James Walker and Greg McAllansmith. Also on board are Jan-Willem Jannink, Peter Bailey, Sean O’Rourke, Lucas Down, Todd Shardlow, Brian Donovan and Etchells legend Matthew Chew. 

“The Sydney Gold Coast race is part of the evolution. I am not goal setting per se for the race. It’s just part of the planning in terms of trying to learn as much about ourselves and the boat going towards the Hobart race.  We are still developing things like menu plans and storage plans and positions within the boat. All very much a practice run for later in the year.

“If we have a good race then that’s a bonus, but it is all about learning more about the boat. The boat is more suited to the Hobart than to the Gold Coast race because it’s a boat that performs incredibly well up-wind and reaching. It’s probably not as competitive in a downhill blast as the latest 50 footers as we are a slightly different shape.  The Hobart is where there is a higher percentage of upwind and reaching. It will suit the boat better than the Gold Coast. 

“That said, the Gold Coast can be a mix. It will be interesting.” 

The fleet of 50 boats in the 28th Sydney Gold Coast 384 nautical mile race start their race in Sydney Harbour at 1pm on this Saturday, 27 July. 

The forecast at the start is for soft northerlies. “So it could be a slow and testing race,” Jones said.