A race in two halves

by Rob Kothe on 3 Aug 2004 From Saturday until Monday, the NSW north coast was not much more than a millpond and the fleet struggled north, the race winner Konica Minolta completing in the race in an elapsed time double the race record.

Since last night, the northerly has built into the low thirties, eased and is now building again. At Cape Byron the wind is now gusting up towards the 20’s again and the same now at Fingal Head, 13 miles from the finish line where it is even a little stronger.

While it appeared for a period that it might be a small boat race, now it is not so certain.

The overall IRC leader, Andrew Cochrane’s 34 foot S&S Pendragon looked to be an unbeatable leader a few hours ago as she was two hours ahead of the Division A IRC leader Quest on corrected time. However with 39 miles to go, she lost much of her lead. Regardless of the final outcome it has been a classy performance, helped considerably by the presence of Sydney 470 Gold medallist Tom King and world-class Mumm 30 bowman Chris Cook.

Nineteen boats have now finished with Julian Farren Prices About Time about to cross the line ahead of More Witchcraft, Yeah Baby and Strewth.