5:02 AM Wed 24 Mar 2010 GMT
Prominent Gosford Sailing Club member and ocean racing yachtsman Bob Swan has been appointed Race Director of the Hempel 37th Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race.
Bob Swan brings considerable ocean racing experience as well as management skills to the 416 nautical mile race across the Tasman Sea, the only annual Category 1 ocean race in Australian waters other than the Rolex Sydney Hobart.
This year's race to the beautiful, semi-tropical Lord Howe Island will start from Broken Bay at 1300 hours on Saturday, 30 October, with Bob Swan chairing his first organising committee meeting this week.
Apart from being a member of the Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race committee, Bob Swan has competed in ten of the races, including being aboard the 2002 PHS division winner Delta Wing. He crewed on Delta Wing when she won the PHS division of the Sydney Hobart Race later than year.
'Having been involved with the Lord Howe Island Race for many years, both as a competitor and on the organising committee, I look forward to leading the team to another successful race,' said Swan, who has also served as Gosford Sailing Club yacht captain.
'This race reflects the great reputation of the Gosford Sailing Club and it's continued involvement with all level of competitive sailing, creating opportunities for all sailors - from beginner races to long ocean passages.'
Bob Swan said the biggest challenge facing the organisers was to attract ocean racing yachts with moderate drafts that could enter the island's unique coral lagoon and utilise the 15 to 20 moorings available. 'Unfortunately these days even 38-footers draw too much, over 2.2 metres, to use the lagoon moorings and we only have five deep draft moorings,' he said.
Gosford Sailing Club has already received expressions of interest from four yacht owners keen to compete in this year's race to Lord Howe Island, with Hempel Paints sponsoring the race for the third year.
Bob Swan, who lives at Umina Beach and owns the Beneteau 305, Elusive Spirit, has recently returned from several months of cruising from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands and across the Atlantic to the Caribbean aboard the Jeanneau 54 Juliana II, owned by Gosford Sailing Club members Stefan and Wendy Bjarne.
Gosford Sailing Club website:
www.gosfordsailingclub.com.au
by Peter Campbell
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