QantasLink Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race - And the winner is…

by Nigel Statham on 27 Mar 2015 With just one week to go until the start of the 2015 QantasLink Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race the inevitable question on everyone’s lips is that perennial question, who will win the silverware?

Obviously, if we knew the answer to this question, the purpose of handicap racing where each boat is provided a performance handicap relative to all the other boats in the race would be fairly pointless. So whilst he does not know who will win, Herb Prendergast, former Race Director for fourteen Gladstone races was happy to share his thoughts on the front runners for 2015.

“It all comes down to the wind; after a few light wind races we are due for a blow.” If the wind stays light, Herb felt that the battle for not only Line Honours but also the Winner decided on handicap could well come down to a straight fight between Black Jack, last year’s Line Honours Winner and Alive, last year’s Overall Winner.

However, if as Herb suggests and the wind stays over 15 knots then the options widen considerably. One boat to keep an eye on will be Dekadence. Stephen Kerin has owned the DK46 for just over a year now and the time on board is really starting to show although Stephen feels that she is at her best going upwind, so will not only be hoping for a good breeze but one from the right direction.

Other entrants to keep an eye on via the yacht tracker at brisbanetogladstone.com.au are the two 30 footers, Immigrant and Italian Job. Lewis Perrin, owner of Italian Job finished last year’s race with the words “unfinished business” and he clearly means to follow through with the comment by packing the boat with local sailing hotshots.

Of course, no competitive sport can be without its ‘Dark Horses’ and Herb has picked two yachts to assume the role, previous Sydney to Hobart winner She 2 and Veteran offshore racer Bob Robertson, the self-proclaimed “Sir Robbo of Queensland” with his Corrobboree team.

Whatever happens, with two previous race winners, Volvo round the world boats, previous Sydney to Hobart winners and over one thousand Brisbane to Gladstone races under the collective race crews belts you can be sure that the competition will be fierce.