Spirit of Queenslands retires - Gladstone race

by Ian Grant on 21 Mar 2008 Spirit of Queensland has retired from the 308 nautical mile Brisbane to Gladstone Race with mast damage.

The former race record holder had staged a defiant challenge against the more modern pocket rocket Ichi Ban and was only separated by three minutes when both yachts entered the open ocean section of the course.

But just two hours later her race was over when the crew reported to Gladstone race control at 5-30pm that there race had become to an abrupt end when the sailed into fresher winds off the northern Sunshine Coast.

Meanwhile Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban has sprinted clear of the fleet as her crew prepared for a fast sail past Double Island Point.

Graeme Wood’s impressively fast Trans Pac 52 Wot Yot had continued to produce unmatched spinnaker racing speed to sail clear of her duel with Quantum Racing while the Melbourne to Osaka race winner Ryugin FGI jointly skippered by Murray Bucknall and Jon Sayer led the charge from the smaller 12.3 m speed sailing sloops.