Gosford to Lord Howe Island - Octogenarian skipper sets sail

8:44 PM Sat 31 Oct 2009 GMT

'2009 Hempel Paints Gosford to Lord Howe Race start' Jeremy Hancock Click Here to view large photo

Twenty three years ago Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron member Bill Gilbert sailed this then yacht Southern Cross to a line and handicap double victory in the Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race.

Today, at the vintage age of 82, Bill set sail again in his latest yacht, a powerful Jutson 45, also named Southern Cross - and with many of the crew who sailed with in 1986.

The Hempel Paints 36th Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race started at o'clock Saturday afternoon from Broken Bay with the 14-boat fleet beating to windward in a freshening north-easterly seabreeze to the first rounding mark off Terrigal.

From there, the fleet set course for Lord Howe Island, with the Queensland yacht Ocean Affinity, a Marten 49 skippered by Stewart Lewis from Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, leading the fleet around the mark ahead of 2007 IRC handicap winners, Ed Psaltis and Bob Thomas in their modified Farr 40 AFR Midnight Rambler.

In third place at the Terrigal Mark was Bill Gilbert in Southern Cross, with his crew including son Lachlan, an Olympic sailor, RSYS rear commodore Richard Chapman, Peter Sheldrick, also a Squadron member, Donald Swanson and round-the-world sailor David Adams as navigator.

'Most of us sailed with Dad when he won this race 23 years ago with a former Southern Cross,' said Lachlan, a former champion sailboarder and dinghy sailor who was a reserve at the 1988 Olympics and, more recently, sailing with his children as crew, scoring to wins and a second in the last three Mirror dinghy nationals.

'It's a beautiful day out here on Broken Bay, warm and sunny with a building north-easterly seabreeze that is building up as we near starting time,' Lachlan Gilbert added.

Two hours after the start, Southern Cross was on port tack, making 7.5 knots to windward. 'Based on the forecast, that looks like the tack we will be on for most of the way to Lord Howe,' Richard Chapman reported by mobile phone. 'It's warm and sunny, the breeze is 11-14 knots and Bill is sitting on the weather rail, thoroughly enjoying himself. it's very comfortable sailing,' he added.