Gladstone winner set to attack Hobart record

by Rob Kothe on 15 Apr 2006 Victorian orthodontist Martyn Riley sailed his Crowther 17 metre catamaran, Raw Nerve, to his third Brisbane to Gladstone victory in a row this afternoon and after sailing this 308 mile course declared the boat and the crew are ready for another crack at the Sydney to Hobart 'All Comers' record.

Last September Riley and his Raw Nerve crew narrowly missed breaking the 'All-Comers' Sydney to Hobart sailing speed record set by Robert Miller's 147 foot (47 metre) monohull Mari Cha III in 1999, of 1 day 18 hours 37 minutes.

Only boats sailing in the Sydney to Hobart race are qualified to tilt at the Volvo 60, Nokia's official race record set in the same year, with an elapsed time of 1 day 19 hours 48 minutes 2 seconds.

Martyn Riley aboard Raw Nerve and his crew, including the yacht designer Stuart Bloomfield, were well inside record pace as they rounded Tasman Light but the wind dropped away just as it has for countless other sailors in the last sixty years, and they missed the 'All Comers' record by 90 minutes. They did however finish inside Nokia’s time.

Dockside in Gladstone after his third line honours win in a row, Riley was all smiles. ‘In this race we did not have any strong winds at all, it was quite a softish run.

'Now we are ready for another crack at the Hobart 'All Comers' record. In this Gladstone race, we confirmed the boat is set up just the way we need it. Philippe Peche has designed a big roachy main and that proved it's worth. We’ve had a good line honours win, but with the breeze continuing to build we don’t expect to win on handicap.

'We will take the boat back to Sydney to prepare for another Hobart record attempt. All we need now is for Roger ‘Clouds’ Badham to find us a weather system.'

Stuart Bloomfield told of this Gladstone race.

‘From the start line we were never headed, we went wide in the night and the breeze kept building, By this morning's sked we off Breaksea Spit, 22 miles ahead of the second boat. On the leg from Lady Elliott we had a spinnaker run, then a two sail reach, the top wind speed we had was 16-17 knots and we touched 22 knots. In the river we had to gybe to the finish and managed to carry a spinnaker all the way.’