Alfa Romeo in overdrive offshore

by Peter Campbell on 23 Nov 2002 The 90-foot ocean racing super maxi Alfa Romeo has an excellent chance of taking out the double of line and IRC handicap honours in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2002 if her racing effort overnight is any guide.

Skippered by owner Neville Crichton, Alfa Romeo (previously Shockwave) came within 13 minutes and 56 seconds of the race record in taking line honours early today in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 92 nautical mile overnight race to Flinders Islet, off Port Kembla.

The state-of-the-art, all carbon fibre yacht crossed the finish line back in Sydney Harbour at 05:01:49 this morning, just outside Bumblebee 5’s record of 8 hours 47 minutes 52 seconds, set in 1999.

The race started in a moderate north-easterly seabreeze which swung to the south-east during the night, giving the fleet a close fetch, then a beat to the island, followed by spinnaker run back in an 8-10 knot breeze, with Alfa Romeo averaging 10 knots for the course.

A fleet of 25 boats, 18 of them nominated for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race set sail from Sydney Harbour at 2000 hours last night on what is the final overnight race before the Hobart Race.

Provisional corrected times issued by the CYCA at 10am today show that Alfa Romeo has beaten all the bigger yachts on corrected time in both the IRC and PHS divisions.

In the IRC division, Alfa Romeo is on top of the provisional results from the newly launched Farr 52 One Design, Ichi Ban, skippered by Matt Allen, while in third place is Bob Steele’s Nelson/Marek 46, Quest.

At that stage, eight boats where still racing back from Flinders Islet with the tailenders not expected to finish until this afternoon.

With nine boats still to finish the IMS division, Quest is first on provisional placings from Syd Fischer’s Farr 50, Ragamuffin, and Ichi Ban. Alfa Romeo does not compete under the IMS rating rule.

Meanwhile in Tasmania, the small fleet in the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s 172 nautical mile Maria Island Race have still to reach the island off Orford on the East Coast, with Roger Jackman’s Dr Who and Tony Lyall’s Valheru duelling for the lead.