Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race - Record safe for another year

by Jennifer Crooks on 25 Jul 2014 2014 Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race - It should be a pleasant ride all the way to Queensland for the 56 competitors in the 29th edition of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, according to Andrew Treloar from the Bureau of Meteorology, who delivered the weather forecast at the official race briefing at the Club last evening.

Treloar, the Bureau’s Manager NSW Weather Services, predicted moderate and variable winds for the duration of the race and participating yacht owners and navigators agree it will be a very tactical one.

Competitors can expect moderate north-west to westerly winds of 10-15 knots when the race gets underway tomorrow (Saturday) at 1.00pm on Sydney Harbour. There is a chance of showers early on, but they should clear by the race start.

Winds are expected to move to the south west (10-15 knots) on Saturday evening as a low off the coast picks up some character. By Sunday, the wind speed will pick up and seas could be confused with waves increasing in height on a north-easterly swell.

Along with much of the fleet, Southern Excellence II’s navigator Michael Bellingham is set to take to offshore route. 'There is definitely more pressure offshore. The breeze is going to spin, so we’ll stick with the pressure and look for the current bands. The tail end of the fleet could compress if the southerly comes into play.'

Occasional Coarse Language Too’s navigator, Brett Filby, said: 'Sunday morning is going to be where the critical decision will need to be made – whether to stick inshore looking for the westerly breeze off the land or to go offshore.'

Experience tells Lindsay May, navigator on Jim Cooney’s Brindabella, 'The offshore route will pay dividends, however, the last stretch from Byron to the Gold Coast could be light and tricky.'

Expect a slug fest with the two super maxis – not only have both had more work done to make them faster, the two are loaded up with some of the world’s heavyweights in sailing.

Not only does Perpetual Loyal have Tom Addis who has moved over from Wild Oats XI as navigator, but also boasts fellow Volvo Ocean Race competitors, Kiwi Tony Mutter and local, Tom Braidwood. They are joined by America’s Cup sailors Adam Beashel and Peter ‘Billy’ Merrington.

Their counterparts on Wild Oats XI include Kiwis Robbie Naismith, Stu Bannatyne and Matt Mason, along with locals, Iain Murray, Chris Links and Darren Senogles. The current modelling has Oats finishing three hours outside their race record of 22hrs, 3mins, 46secs, but as we all know, the weather can change things in an instant.

Old South Australian favourite, Geoff Boettcher and some of his former crew will take a walk down memory lane when they board Primitive Cool, the ex Secret Mens Business 3.5. ‘Boettch’ sold the RP51 to Victorian John Newbold since winning the 2010 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race among other major events. With some of the old SA crew back in the saddle, and the remaining Victorian crew now familiar with the boat, expect to see them up in the money for an overall win.

Others favoured to take out the 384 nautical mile race overall are Victoire, Darryl Hodgkinson’s Cookson 50; Wild Rose, Roger Hickman’s 29 year old Farr 43; Balance, Paul Clitheroe’s recently acquired TP52 (the former Quest), Patrice Tony Kirby’s Ker 46 and Ichi Ban, Yachting Australia President Matt Allen’s Carkeek 60 with navigator Adrienne Cahalan stepping on board at the last moment.

'The current is interesting and how you deal with it will be the key. It will be quite tactical, which will make it interesting,' Cahalan said.

The CYCA’s proven yacht tacker system will allow family, friends and yachting enthusiasts to follow the race and their favourite yachts for its duration. Each yacht is fitted with a Yellowbrick tracker that will obtain a position using the GPS satellite network, and then transmit the position back to Yellowbrick HQ using the Iridium satellite network.

Each yacht’s position is then visualised on the race yacht tracker map, or overlaid on Google Earth. In addition, the yacht tracker system also shows distance to finish line and progressive corrected time positions under the IRC, ORCi and PHS handicap divisions.

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