3:57 AM Thu 22 Apr 2010 GMT
This ANZAC Day long weekend 15 IRC rated yachts will line up for the 2010 Queensland Championship.
Hosted by Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, the yachts will race on Moreton Bay, east of Brisbane with the forecast predicting light northerly breeze for Saturday and Sunday with a south east change on Monday.
The Hugh Welbourn 42 Wedgetail (Bill Wild) will be out to defend their reputation after their recent success in the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race.
'We'll be racing with pretty much the same crew as we did for Gladstone, with me at helm,' said Wild.
'It's great to see some quality boats in the Brisbane fleet. We have committed to competing in more Queensland events this year including Hamilton Island Race Week and perhaps even the Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race.
Wild said that Black Jack Too was going to be a quick boat with a quality on board for this weekends championship.
'We'll just see how it goes,' said Wild.
Making their debut appearance will be Peter Harburg's Reichel Pugh 42 Black Jack Too which was launched in Brisbane this week. Black Jack Too was first sailed in the Brisbane River on Tuesday with the crew taking days off work to put the final touches to the boat.
'We can't wait to get on the start line with everyone. It's a quality fleet and it will be interesting to see how we go,' said skipper Mark Bradford.
'We are using this regatta as a shakedown really. We have no elusions on winning and are just another boat in the fleet. There is still heaps to do, so if we get through the weekend it will definitely be a bonus.'
Whilst Harburg is still committed to his Reichel Pugh 66 Black Jack, the smaller boat was the perfect way to compete in local events due to the depth of Manly Harbour.
'It's hard to race the big boat at local regattas. By having Black Jack Too it means we can compete in events at our home club (Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron), as well as big events like the St Helena Cup (Wynnum Manly Yacht Club),' said Bradford.
When asked how Black Jack Too would go against Wedgetail, Bradford said that it was anyone's regatta.
'My pick is that Wedgetail will beat us over the line, and on IRC,' said Bradford. 'But look out for the Farr 40's, they could very easily surprise us all.'
Stewart Lewis's Marten 49 is the biggest boat in the fleet, yet still thinks that Wedgetail and Black Jack Too will get him over the line.
'Trying to navigate a 49' boat around windward/return courses is a bit of a challenge, so my guess is that the smaller boats will dominate for those races. In the passage race we should be able to run away from the other boats but overall I think that Black Jack Too will be the boat to watch,' said Lewis. 'IRC is going to go to either of the Farr 40's, Bribie Star (Ken Down) or e11even (David Elliott),' continued Lewis.
There will be some tough competition amongst the Division 2 fleet with the Mumm 36 MOD Georgia Express (Andrew Knights) set to bring out a secret weapon for this years regatta.
'Rumour has it that Georgia Express has a new spinnaker that she will be using this weekend,' said arch rival Geoff Anderson, owner and skipper of the Mumm 36 Corum.
'There is going to be some hot racing this weekend which we are really looking forward to. The Reichel Pugh 36 Spirit should do really well with her rating,' continued Anderson.
This is the first time outside of this years Brisbane to Gladstone Race that Corum will line up against Wedgetail on the same start line.
'Bill Wild used to own Corum so it will be great to play around with him on board Wedgetail,' said Anderson.
David Conway, owner and skipper on Spirit was surprised that he was picked as a favourite.
'I've owned the boat for nine months now and this is my first IRC regatta. I'm just really looking forward to being on a start line with boats like Wedgetail and Black Jack Too', said Conway.
The recent addition of Farr 40's, and other 36' to 40' boats has increased the competition and quality of the Queensland yacht racing fleet.
Racing starts on Saturday 24 April with three windward/return races scheduled to kick off from 1100 hours. On ANZAC Day racing will commence at 1300 hours will the fleet competing in a passage race around Moreton Bay, then its back to windward/return races on Monday
Queensland IRC Championship regatta Microsite -
www.rqys.com.au/index.php/2010-queensland-irc-championship/
Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron is currently celebrating 125 years of sailing.
For more information regarding racing at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron log onto
sailing.rqys.com.au
by Suellen Hurling
|
Manly, QLD
