Peter Harburg’s super fast 20.3m pocket maxi Black Jack skippered by BMW Oracle Americas Cup sailor Mark Bradford produced a remarkable light wind performance to take line honours in the Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel ocean race overnight.
Black Jack expressed her surprising speed in an unstable winter land breeze which rarely peaked 18 knots to complete the 348 n/.ml race with an elapsed time of 33 hours 13 minutes 13 seconds and an average boat speed of 10.48 knots.
Her crew entered a totally new learning curve when Black Jack sailing her maiden Queensland ocean race provided another ‘skite plaque’ to be hung on the board room wall of the internationally famed Californian design team of John Reichel and Jim Pugh.
The headsail and spinnaker sheaves hardly had time to cool in the 10-18 degree temperatures as the crew worked up a sweat with endless sail changes. Their collective effort which was naturally a little ‘rusty’ at the start eventually became smooth as silk to play a big role in allowing Black Jack to produce her unmatched speed sailing performance.
The on watch crew relentlessly stuck to their task basically changing sails and the compass bearing as the wind shifted on an irregular and unpredictable pattern after they weathered Breaksea Spit.
However they retained their focus to complete the course before the fading land breeze left the normally wind tormented Rosslyn Bay in a state of calm. Time on the official race clock this morning was ticking in favour of Black Jack to collect the line and corrected handicap double as the balance of the fleet led by 2007 line honours trophy winner Getaway Sailing.com struggled to make headway in the ‘glass out’ conditions.
All of the crews who braved cold and frustrating conditions overnight welcomed the first rays of the sun as they entered their 36 hour at sea hoping for a spinnaker sailing wind change to improve their chance of having a warm shower and a ‘Frosted Four-X’ later today.
Meanwhile Black Jack’s strategic team of skipper Mark Bradford, Vaughan Prentice, Peter Merrington, Graham Taylor and Mark D’Emilio remain as the favourites to win the Club Marine Trophy as the lower handicapped Wedgetail (Bill Wild) and the 40 year old MDBS Spirit of Koomooloo skippered by Mike Freebairn track a slow course towards the finish line off the Keppel Bay Marina.
by Ian Grant
8:52 PM Sun 3 Aug 2008 GMT
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