Manly-Mooloolaba Hart Cup Race 2013 - Easter racing at its finest

by Tracey Johnstone on 6 Mar 2013 Manly-Mooloolaba Hart Cup Race and Mooloolaba Yacht Club Easter Regatta 2013 - With only four weeks to go to Easter there is plenty of talk around town about Mooloolaba's upcoming twin sailing events.

It’s the perfect place to turn left after a relatively short coastal race, tying up in the safe harbour, then putting on your stepping-out wear for a long weekend of some seriously good onshore fun and plenty of bay racing. Sounds like a perfect choice if don’t want to race to Gladstone this year.

The weekend starts on Good Friday with Wynnum Manly Yacht Club’s Hart Cup Race, north from Manly to Mooloolaba. Club chairman, Greg Doolan expects at least 12 entries from his club, more from around Moreton Bay and up to 10 Mooloolaba monohulls and multihulls.

The divisions for the Hart Cup are IRC, Performance Cruising Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker, and Multihulls.

'This year, in the spirit of friendly inter-club rivalry, we are offering a Teams competition. The club teams will have to enter at least three boats in the Monohull PHRF division to be in the running for his trophy. The best three results from a club’s entrants will be joined to form the Teams event score.

'If your club has more than three entries you have a better prospect in the Teams event. This is a first for The Hart Cup and if well supported will become an annual event with a perpetual and replica trophy,' Doolan said.

Also included this year is an OMR division for the multihulls.

The race briefing and BBQ is on Thursday 28 March at 6.30pm with the YA Category 5 race start time at 8.30am the following morning. The time limit is official sunset.

While the big boats are racing up from Manly, the sports boats will kick off the inshore section of Mooloolaba Yacht Club’s Easter Regatta with the first two of their windward/leeward races.

On arrival into Mooloolaba the fleet will be greeted by the club’s traditional welcoming and usually boisterous Good Friday BBQ.

On Saturday the bay races for the monohulls, multihulls and sports boats start at a civilised hour of 11 a.m. All divisions are expected to complete two races each before heading back to shore to enjoy the Mooloolaba night life.

Sunday starts with a Big Dark Glasses Breakfast from 7 a.m then the combined Manly and Mooloolaba big boat fleet head out for a race start at 9.30am to head south to Caloundra before taking a left hand turn and heading back on a course to Mooloolaba.

In the sports boats there are two more races to finish the six-race series on Mooloolaba Bay.

The Easter Regatta weekend concludes with a prize giving party at The Wharf Tavern in Mooloolaba.

For more information and to enter online, go Mooloolaba Yachting website or go Manly Mooloolaba Hart Cup Race website.