Brisbane to Keppel – For when great just gets even better

by John Curnow on 4 May 2016 10th birthdays usually involve a lot of presents and single food group treats. Oh yes, candles, a song and now one's way to cool for pony rides and pass the parcel. They still have a sort of simple and harmless nature to them and equally a single mindedness about no longer being in solo digits! First right of passage achieved.

Now I cannot remember my own, but no doubt mum’s great food was involved. How my friends loved her chocolate fudge, shortbread and birthday cake… So here we are today with the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron’s Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race about to have it’s 10th Birthday. After slugging their way through that last mouthful, the adults at the party will be looking for the first drink about now…

Still, the joy here is that RQ (as she is known) is bringing her own presents to the party. This comes in the form of a new division for even more sailors to join in and celebrate the occasion. True, they’ll be even busier souls, as it is the Short-Handed Division we’re talking about, but you cannot deny their enthusiasm and commitment. Yet the party does not end there, either, for some of the biggest stars in the monohull world are set to line up on August 5, 2016 for the race proper.

Already four short-handed crews are set for this newest division that will compliment the racers, cruisers and multihulls. Some of them will be using it as a first workout in the lead-up to the 5500nm 2018 Melbourne to Osaka race. One of these is Trevor Hill’s modified Farr 11.6, Apriori, and what a story that is!

The Farr 11.6 goes back to 1978, when a Kiwi businessman wanted a fast cruiser and did not like the IOR machines of the day. This particular one is a 30-year-old example and has been modified for both long-haul and short-handed work. There is a sugar scoop on the transom, she has lead plates on either side of her keel to improve righting moment (500kg in total), a long carbon fibre bowsprit and top-down furling spinnakers on a torsion line.

The headsail is on a furler and the bulk of the running rigging all comes aft to the helm for ease of use. Hot water, a real oven and also an anchor winch are testament to her passage making abilities. Trevor bought the boat because after reading Kay Cottee’s book when he was 14 he decided he had to do the trans-Tasman, which he then ticked off the list in 2010. Incidentally, he completed that in nine and a half days, was the first monohull home, second over the line to a 15m Chamberlain Cat and collected first on handicap into the bargain.

Now the boat had been set up to do this sort of racing, but was not really in great shape when he bought it. The rig was out, it had a heap of water in it and well, you get the picture. Equally, Trevor was in between lodgings himself at the time and this boat became home to the Merchant Banker for about five months.

“I can still remember loading my old Daihatsu Charade with life rafts, suits, ironing board, pots, pans etc and driving to Sydney to go and collect her. I spent a week tidying her up, repainting down below, putting the rig in and then we (the boat and I) took off for home”, said Hill.

“These days it is all a bit different. We race her two to three times a week and in 2015 Apriori had a major refit, with a new motor, repainted topsides and X-rayed keelbolts being some of the work completed. We have done lots of fully-crewed and short-handed racing like Brisbane to Gladstone, Sydney to Brisbane, Surf to City and so far, three trips to Lord How Island”, commented Hill as they set of for their fourth trip out into the Pacific.

“I love Lord Howe because it is a pristine paradise. There are no mobiles, so you can totally disengage. Apriori is ideal and I often say I will die with it. It is as big as you can handle on your own, without specialist equipment, and is a beautiful sea boat. On one trip to Lord Howe I was caught in 60 knots for three days on my own, and in the Solo Trans Tasman I had 60 knots one night and I was still racing. It is incredibly sea kindly and I can punch out 200 mile days, all on my own.”

Hill is your classic child of the water, having started sailing out of his Newport home when he was just nine. Time coaching and winning an Australian Championship in the Corsair all followed and there is still one on the lawn at the house now for when he needs a quick fix after work.

Hill bought an S&S Defiance 30 when he was 26 and then sailed it back to Newport from Cairns, single-handed. He took that boat to Lord Howe Island as well, ‘enjoying’ three days of 45 knots, with water over the floor boards, a liferaft that tried to launch itself at one stage, and a trip over the side in three kilometer deep water to cut a rope off the prop.

So then Apriori’s other hand could not be more different to her Skipper. Lucas Burns is a producer and presenter for ABC FM. He started sailing just two years ago at Easter, but was instantly hooked. Throughout the week on the train to work he would study an iPhone app on how to sail, then every weekend he would practice his new theory.

“Lucas ‘got serious’ about short-handed racing this year, when we did Sail Paradise two-handed. This fantastic regatta comprises five days of passage and windward return races, and we had three days of 25 knots, so it was hard work short handed. After this he did Surf to City two up, it was a really hard race, but we got there. This was Lucas’ first offshore race, by the way. Brisbane to Gladstone followed”, said Hill.

Their plan is to do the Osaka in 10 years time and use it to get to the Northern hemisphere. They will then traverse the top of the Pacific, go down the West Coast of the USA, go through the Panama Canal for time in the Caribbean, across the Atlantic to do the two-handed Fastnet race and return via the Transat race to Newport, R.I.

“We’ll go down the Intracoastal waterway to the Carribean, then through the Panama and do the milk run home. This is obviously a very ambitious plan, but we have ten years to save up for it......!”

Hill concluded with, “We are really looking forward to the Brisbane to Keppel and we are delighted RQ has put the division on. There are quite a few of us up here keen on short-handed. I like it because there are no excuses, particularly if you are on your own, and it really gets your skills up very quickly, as in Lucas's case!”

At the other end of the spectrum, the cosmos over Brisbane does seem to have got a bit brighter with Wild Oats XI, Black Jack and Alive all planning on competing. Black Jack’s Skipper, Mark Bradford, said “If we keep turning up to every event, eventually we might get lucky and get some wind... The boat was going great in the Gladstone Race and we always look forward to racing Wild Oats and Alive.”

Phillip Turner’s mini-maxi, the RP66 known as Alive is currently receiving a minor-refit in the Phillipines. Kate Hine tells us, “Her dark blue topsides are getting loving attention from a team of about 20 diligent, but now heavily sunburnt, Filipino painters who are sanding and filling the myriad of small dings and scuffs from nine months of intense and amazing sailing in Asia.”

“There is a bit of pressure on, because delays with slings and weather and ‘tropical time’ have pushed back the final top coating, but we are pushing to get it all done as soon as possible. Why the urgency? Because we are coming back specifically in time for the Brisbane to Keppel 2016 and we want ALIVE to look her shiniest bluest best for the event!!!”

“The Brisbane to Keppel represents many things to us, and personally it is one of my favourites. Firstly, it is very important for offshore training in preparation for the Sydney to Hobart. Secondly, it is a logistically relatively easy – entry, timing of the race just prior to Airlie Beach, close to home - all these things combine to mean there is less headache involved to get a boat like ALIVE to start.”

“Thirdly, the race is quite interesting technically and scenic, with the start up the channel in Moreton Bay, the passage past Fraser Island, Indian Head and Lady Elliot Island, while weighing tide, sea breeze and land breeze against point of sail and dodging whales. Finally, the finish at Keppel Bay Marina is usually, for us, very early in the morning. However it is warm and the committee have showers, food and drinks all waiting, which quickly lessens the fatigue and makes for a good banter on the way home and/or late afternoon sleeps for all those who are staying around.”

Duncan Hine says “We have been representing the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in Asia for the past nine months. The past 2 years, I feel, have been spent learning the boat, much aided by the Black Jack team, and building crew. The time in Asia really helped with crew building, because it forced us to expand our crew pool to match the extraordinary amount of racing. Now, we have a bunch of ailors with great skills and great attitude, and they are a pleasure to sail with.”

“However the next six months is needed to finesse team work prior to the Sydney to Hobart and the Brisbane to Keppel race is an important part of that training. I am really looking forward to another year sailing this great boat with this crew. Thanks to Phil making it all possible!”

Kate then added, “The container ship is booked for late May from Hong Kong and our fingers are crossed there’ll be no damage to the new paintwork. We aim to get her home in late June, with plenty of time to run before the Brisbane to Keppel race begins.”

Now the Australian icon, Wild Oats XI, will also be part of the Brisbane to Keppel race. Sandy, Ian and Ros Oatley have confirmed that the boat will carry on their late father’s legacy. The race, along with Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, forms part of the yacht’s preparations for the upcoming Sydney to Hobart.

“They’re treating this as training for the Hobart race, and are really looking forward to testing the yacht. They haven’t had a lot of time with her since she was modified”, said Wild Oats XI’s Media Manager, Rob Mundle.

Her Skipper, Mark Richards, is also keen to see the silver bullet do well. She owns a truly incredible eight Hobart wins (Line Honours), four of them consecutively, and is the only vessel to ever claim the elusive triple crown of Line, Handicap and Record, not just once, but twice!

RQ has one of the best facilities going around, and they will roll out the famous Queensland hospitality for all boats. Early bird entries finish on May 31 and then they ultimately close on July 22, 2016 and the starting gun fires on August 5, 2016. The 343nm race is expected to attract over 40 entries from mono and multihulls in IRC, ORCi, PHS, OMR and now short-handed divisions.

The Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron would like to thank their naming rights sponsor, Club Marine, who is Australia’s largest insurer of marine pleasure craft. Speaking of pleasure, if you’d like to be amongst the fleet for the 10th anniversary of the Brisbane to Keppel race on August 5, 2016, then please go to www.brisbanetokeppel.com and start clicking away. Sun, fun, warm hospitality and perhaps even the odd whale await you.