Sail-World.com : Tasports Maria Island Yacht Race accepts first catamaran
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Tasports Maria Island Yacht Race accepts first catamaran |
The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania has accepted the entry of the catamaran Slingshot for the Tasports Maria Island Yacht Race, which starts at 7pm today from Hobart’s Castray Esplanade.
This will be the first time a multihull yacht has contested the 190 nautical mile ocean race around the Tasmanian east coast to the island off Orford and return to Hobart. With another late entry, it brings the fleet to a record 31 yachts.
Slingshot is one of the fastest offshore racing catamarans in Australia and a five times winner of the Tasmanian Three Peaks Race. The Maria Island Race will be the first offshore race for Slingshot under new owner Jean-Pierre Ravant.
Based on her performances in the Three Peaks races and with fresh winds forecast, the catamaran has the potential to sail close to the race record of 19 hours 50 minutes set by Bob Clifford’s maxi ketch Tasmania in 1994.
Interest will centre on the Sydney Hobart Race entrants contesting the race, in particular the performance of David Creese’s recently acquired DK46 Dekadence, having its first race in southern Tasmanian waters, and Todd Leary’s Hart/Jones-designed 39-footer She’s the Culprit, back after extensive go-fast changes.
The new-look She’s the Culprit, unveiled at Bellerive Yacht Club yesterday, has a large cockpit/aft deck area and a bigger rig that will increase the working sails by 20% and the downwind sail area by 37%.
Progress reports on the Tasports Maria Island Race will be available on the RYCT website – www.ryct.org.au while the satellite tracker system will be available on www.oceantracker.com.au or www.oceantrack.net
by Peter Campbell
12:27 AM Fri 20 Nov 2009 GMT
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