9:52 AM Fri 20 Nov 2009 GMT
|
|
'Mojo retired from the Maria Island race'
Peter Campbell ©
|
Southerly winds blasting up the River Derwent at up to 35 knots this evening forced two yachts out of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania's Maria Island Race within 40 minutes of the start of the 190 nautical mile ocean race
around Tasmania's East Coast.
A record fleet of 30 yachts set sail from Hobart's Castray Esplanade at 7pm as the cool southerly front with winds of 25-35 knots replaced the hot 35-40 knot nor'wester that had been blasting down the River Derwent all day. The
temperature dropped from 33 degrees to 13 degrees with the change.
The race claimed its first casualty only 22 minutes after the start with Mojo Rising, Nicholas Cole's Beneteau 40.7, retiring with a broken spreader. Twenty minutes later Hot Prospect, Ian Marshall's Farr 1104 was dismasted further down the river.
Sydney Hobart contender Auch, David Bean's Beneteau 44.7 got the best start but many of the yachts, made conservative starts, beating to windward down the river under reefed sails, some even sailing with storm jibs as they
encountered the full strength of the southerly.
Before the start, French yachtsman and cruise line captain Jean-Pierre Ravant forecast that his catamaran Slingshot could break the record for the Tasports Maria Island Race 'if the weather forecasts of fresh to strong winds off Tasmania's East Coast over the weekend prove consistent.'
Ravant, a ship's captain based in Hobart for the past 15 years and an experienced ocean racing yachtsman, made his confident comment as he and his crew of Hobart and Launceston sailors prepared the 30-foot catamaran for the
190 nautical mile ocean race.
'She can achieve fantastic speeds - 12-14 knots in a breeze of similar strength up to 20 knots in 20 knots of wind,' said Ravant, who came to Hobart as first officer on the French Antarctic vessel l'Astrolabe and is now a captain with Royal Caribbean Line.
Slingshot, a Chamberlin design catamaran which has won five Tasmanian Three Peaks Races, is the first multihull to be accepted as an entry in the Maria Island Race by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
However, the catamaran's crew elected to make a conservative start, beating to windward mid-fleet under reefed mainsail and storm jib as the bigger monohulls, Auch and Marineline/Focal (Gary Smith) opened up an early lead
over the fleet.
Bob Clifford's chartered maxi ketch Tasmania set the record for the Maria island Race in 1994 and went on to take line honours in the 50th Sydney Hobart Yacht Race the same year.
Ravant and co-owner Doug Keating, also from Hobart, bought Slingshot after the yacht won the Three Peaks Race last Easter and have put together a strong crew of experienced ocean racing yachtsmen, the others being Mark
Copperman and Jason Van Zeeton from Launceston and Ben McIntosh from Hobart.
'All of us are experienced ocean racing yachtsman - I sailed with Jason when he sailed his own boat Jailhouse Grill in the Sydney Hobart,' add Ravant, who is competing in the Maria Island Race as Slingshot's qualifying race for this year's Launceston to Hobart Race.
Progress reports on the Tasports Maria Island Race will be available on the RYCT website -
www.ryct.org.au
satellite tracker system -
www.oceantracker.com.au
or
www.oceantrack.net
by Peter Campbell
|
peregian beach, QLD
Kitesurfing - Kites
Foiling - Prone/Surf Foilboards
Foiling - Wind Wing Foilboards
