Bob Robertson faced challenges in 2009 Brisbane to Gladstone

by Ian Grant on 15 Apr 2009 Sunshine Coast ocean yacht racing skipper Bob Robertson has sailed some difficult miles in a career spanning 27 years.

He has proudly represented Queensland in the Sydney Hobart, Sydney to Mooloolaba and Sydney to Gold Coast races but very few have compared with the recent Brisbane to Gladstone classic where every gust and wave must have felt like a speed bump.

The intensely competitive skipper who first entered the 308 nautical mile Gladstone Race in 1982 finishing third overall with Hot Prospect faced a supreme test of endurance to even make the start this year when his Farr 40 Cracklin Rosie remained moored in the repair dock at Yeppoon 340 nautical miles from the start line.

Both skipper and crew were destined to become race spectators when Cracklin Rosie was hauled out to replace a damaged rudder bearing.

At the time local boat builder Mal White and Bob Robertson thought replacing the bearing would be a simple task but Robertson’s 2009 race challenge became a nightmare when the critical seven day count down to the 11am start time on Brisbane’s Bramble Bay entered the sixth day.

Cracklin Rosie was resting in the travel lift at the Rosslyn Bay Marina when Mal White and Bob Robertson began a frantic search to find a replacement which was eventually found in the New South Wales town of Nowra.

Time was far too precious to rely on a courier service leaving Bob Robertson the only alternative to tell the supplier to have it packed and I will be down to pick it up.

The return trip of flying from Rockhampton to Sydney then hiring a car and driving to Nowra added more time and expense to his Gladstone Race challenge but Robertson was determined to take part in the 61st Queensland coastal classic.

His personal determination deserved to be rewarded when Cracklin Rosie eventually beat the odds to take part in the 308n/ml match race against her Brisbane Farr 40 class rivals Bribie Star (Peter Sherwood), elleven (David Elliott) and Night Nurse (Russell McCart).

But there were more ‘speed bumps’ ahead for the determined Sunshine Coast skipper who had placed the traditional bet of a bottle of Mt Gay Rum on the result.

He had the advantage of his long term experience having won with Sellars Witchcraft II in the windy 1987 race before helming the smaller sloop Corrobboree to victory in 1992.

However while Bob Robertson and his long term crew mates and Farr 40 racing specialists Andrew Wicklund, Robert Bridge, Bruce Maisey, Trevor Gourlay and Jack Wells fought hard in the tactical arm-wrestle the class honours were sealed when Bribie Star finished at 8-12 on Easter Saturday night defeating elleven on corrected handicap by 13 minutes 53 seconds with Cracklin Rosie another 21-15 astern.

Skipper Bob Robertson lost the match race but he won the admiration of his rivals when he promised them to be prepared to race against a modified Cracklin Rosie in 2010.