2010 Coffs to Paradise - Alacrity the best rock hopper

by Rob Mundle on 8 Jan 2010 Rock hopping tactics prove to be a winning move in the inaugural Coffs to Paradise ocean race. The yacht’s name is Alacrity, meaning speed and enthusiasm, and it certainly lived up to that definition in the inaugural 150 nautical mile Coffs to Paradise ocean race from Coffs Harbour to Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Owned by Southport Yacht Club member Matt Percy – a former America’s Cup and Olympic sailor – the Beneteau 44.7 production design sailed across the finish line off Main Beach this afternoon in fourth place in fleet.

But more importantly for the owner and his ten crew, Alacrity’s corrected time for the course saw the yacht declared the provisional overall winner on handicap. This came after the Race Director, Denis Thompson, calculated that no other yacht still sailing to the finish could better Alacrity’s corrected time.

Soon after sunrise today Peter Harburg’s sleek 66-footer, Black Jack, came into view from the finish line, and around 8am became the first yacht to claim line honours in this new event.

‘I guess you could say we also hold the race record time,’ Harburg said with a laugh when the yacht docked at Southport Yacht Club. ‘At least we’ve set the time for others to beat in the future.’

Black Jack’s helmsman, Mark ‘Squark’ Bradford, said the race had been particularly challenging overnight when the light southerly wind faded to nothing: ‘It was only the rain squalls that kept us moving, and fortunately there were a few of them. Each time one came across our path it was wet and windy, then it would go and the wind would die. It was like that all the way to Cape Byron early this morning, then a steady new breeze moved in.’

The provisional results, which won’t be declared official until today, had Eleven (Dave Elliott, Qld) placed second and Secret Mens’ Business (SMB Syndicate, NSW) third. Alacrity’s winning margin on corrected time was expected to be quite significant – more than an hour.

‘We had a game plan when we left Coffs and we stuck to it,’ Matt Percy said as he started celebrations at Southport Yacht Club late today. ‘We were going to stay as close as we could to the coast to avoid any adverse current, and that’s what we did: we rock-hopped all the way north. Our boat is particularly suited to light downwind conditions, and it certainly showed in this race.’

Percy paid high praise to his crew. His 15-year old son, Christopher, was doing his first-ever long distance ocean race, as was Daniel Cadman, the Southport Yacht Club’s treasurer. Also, a long-time friend from America’s Cup days, Ian Baker, was making a welcome return to ocean racing after a break lasting more than a decade.

The Coffs to Paradise race is the curtain raiser to another Southport Yacht Club inaugural event, Sail Paradise, which will be staged off the Gold Coast for five days starting this Sunday, January 10.

The Coffs to Paradise race was supported by Gold Coast Tourism and Gold Coast City Council.