Small problem forces Skandia out of Gladstone race

by Bindy Lockhart on 15 Apr 2006 Super maxi 'Skandia' - Brisbane Gladstone record holder – and still fresh from her latest line honours win on the Gold Coast less than 2 weeks ago – arrived back in Brisbane on Friday evening, having had to 'retire hurt' from the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race due to technical problems.

Kerry Spencer, a Brisbane Property Developer and the brains behind the new VISION building, had joined 'Skandia' for the race and he and his mates were trying to regain their record set on Bobsled some 13 years ago. Others such as Mark Fullerton of Doyle Sails Australia and some of the other regular 'Skandia' crew were trying to cut a little extra time off the record 'Skandia' already holds for the Gladstone race.

This was not be their race. Whilst sailing along in a sedate 10 knot breeze a $50 bearing bush dislodged itself from around a pin which holds the keel hydraulic cylinder into the solid carbon fibre keel frame. Although the boat and all on board were completely safe and the boat could have finished the race, the replacement of the bush would have become more difficult and time consuming to do if they had continued, so the crew reluctantly agreed that it was prudent to retire from the race and head back up to the new Rivergate Marina in the Brisbane River.

'We are currently motoring in the Spitfire channel having retired from the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race after discovering that one of the bronze bearings that houses the pins that hold the keel in position had started to move,' wrote Graeme Taylor, Watch Captain and Navigator for the race, 'on investigation we found that the glue that retains the bearing had failed and was allowing the bearing to move in the keel frame.

This is a very minor problem and will be very easily rectified at the dock but we have decided that it was not prudent for us to continue in this race as it had the potential to get worse over time.

‘The problem was noticed just after 5pm, we were off Mooloolaba sailing in 8-10 knots of wind doing 12-14 knots of boat speed. All of the crew are obviously disappointed to be out of such a great race and are looking forward to doing it bigger and better next year.'

It is expected that Skandia will make her way back down the coast before being fixed. 'She is up for another make-over later this year,' explained Grant Wharington from his pre Volvo Ocean Race trip in the USA, 'so we will bring that forward and get this all sorted at once. Of course these things are really frustrating but at least any serious damage was avoided and we will be ready for Mooloolaba later this year.'