2:32 AM Mon 28 Dec 2009 GMT
Sydney Hobart. You'd think that the well spoken Mike Slade, owner of the 100 supermaxi ICAP Leopard, ought to be of Irish descent given his charismatic gift for the gab.
A media team phone conversation with Slade this morning was as always, every bit as entertaining as it was informative.
ICAP Leopard was due west of Cape Forrester and ahead and west of Wild Oats XI when he spoke on the satellite phone. That's exactly where Slade and his team wanted to be, as the fickle wind plays cat and mouse with the three yachts leading the race.
'We're the outside boat and we're happy to be so. We're heading about 175 south which means that we and Neville can just about lay Tasman Island on this bearing but I think there'll be a lot more funny things going to be thrown at us by the wind gods yet' said Slade.
As you know Neville got a good jump on us and is now about 17 miles ahead' said Slade.
'Wild Oats is bearing 206 and behind our stern and seems to have parked; that's mainly because they're right inshore. That's hurt Wild Oats and I'm hoping it hurts good old Neville a bit too, but we'll see.'
'We've stayed outside to try to get around this wind transfer area'
There's about 3.3 knots of wind and we're doing about 3.5 knots, but it's up and down a lot; I've seen 2 and I've seen 6 knots of wind speed and boat speed. We've got the A1 spinnaker up to give us a bit more grunt but it's very very hard work.'
'Actually as we speak I can see the wind dropping to 2 knots, we're nearly parked now'
''There's going to be a lot of change going on. You don't want to be sucked in to the Tasman Island beaches and all the way down into Port Arthur or you'll be there for the rest of the holiday! It doesn't make any sense to me'
'Then we're looking at an arrival at Tasman Island and the Organ Pipes at round Midnight to 1am. As you know people go to sleep early in Hobart and that's because there's no wind in the river and that seems to be holding up as there's absolutely no wind forecast for the river at that time'.
Speaking of Alfa Romeo's fortunes Slade was generous in his assessment of their prospects as the three yachts head for Tasman Island and from there across Storm Bay to the Derwent River.
'If Neville gets there first with a 10-15 mile lead and can climb up the Derwent River he'll be great winner and probably win on handicap too, because the rest of the fleet are 100 miles behind stuck in the transfer area off Gabo Island and across the Strait'
'I've got used to following Neville around in this yachting game over the years so that's not an unhappy situation for me'.
ICAPs' extraordinary performance in this light airs race has perhaps contributed to Mike Slade's magnanimity. Despite having lightened the boat since her last Hobart outing ICAP Leopard is still almost twenty tonnes heavier than her two arch rivals Wild Oats XI and Alfa Romeo.
'We're absolutely thrilled with how well the boat has gone in light wind. It's been start stop, but the tactical crew on board have been brilliant'.
Asked how the food rationing was going in a race that is destined to be a deal longer than usual, Slade explained that the crew had taken a large box of Christmas Cake. However once that was eaten they needed to lose the weight that the crew had accumulated.
'Then we found that some bloke had blocked the dunny' said Slade, adding 'so the guys won't be heading to Customs House when we arrive they'll be going straight to the local dunny.'
As this story goes on line ICAPs' tactic for going round the outside seems not to paying off with Yacht Tracker showing Wild Oats pulling away from ICAP and closing the gap to 13 miles from Alfa Romeo, which is presently west of Cape Sonnerat.
Fortunately for the leg-crossed ICAP crew there's a local dunny right beside the marina so they should be able to make a brief visit directly en route to Customs House when they arrive.
by Crosbie Lorimer
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Manly, QLD
