Hempel Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race - Frantic bags IRC

by Tony Evans on 10 Apr 2013 Hempel Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race 2013 - Frantic has been declared the official winner of the 39th edition of the popular race with victory in the IRC division. The margin over the second place getter AFR Midnight Rambler was impressive and more than 1 hour, with Alegria V third.

The Mick Martin skippered TP52 has taken the double with a more emphatic win in ORCi by around two 1/2 hours to AFR Midnight Rambler and completing an identical trifecta was Alegria V for third.

The minor placings were unchanged overnight as the smaller boats assisted by breeze continued to chip away at the corrected time margins but as the wind faded it became clear that none could pull back the deficit.

Wild Rose was still in contention late yesterday evening, but slowed considerably in the early hours of this morning and then had to work back from the north of the island to finish fourth overall. Both Luna Sea and King Billy were placed further south and kept improving in the final stages.

AFR Midnight Rambler skipper Ed Psaltis says that he was pleased to have finished last night and thought the smaller boats would struggle to pull back the margin. However, the Hick 35 Luna Sea skippered by James Cameron, had a great last 24 hours improving from eighth to fifth overall.

Ken Saladine, a former Saratoga Sabot and flying 11 junior, was given the responsibility of putting the Frantic race entry together and was principal helmsman for the race. 'Mick wasn't sure that he wanted to do the race this year as we are concentrating on the TP52 regattas, but said if I could put it together, we'll go. The thrown together crew worked on three shifts with one female in each and all did really well. Some of these guys had never sailed together, but are very good sailors. We are all rapt with this result.'

Ed Psaltis was first to shake Mick Martin's hand when the provisional results were read out this afternoon at the Anchorage Restauarant and bar. Frantic has beaten some quality ocean racers in the 2013 G2LHI race and Martin and his crew should be proud of their achievement.

The results vary somewhat from the Yellowbrick tracker estimations and this was due to a race start time input Hempel Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race 2013