QCYC Surf to City Yacht Race - Overall report

by Peter Hackett on 23 Jan 2015 It could be the clash with the Australia Day long weekend, it could be the crappy storm fronts we have endured in amongst the hot weather, it could be the swarms of malevolent jellyfish littering the waters on the race course, but for whatever reason, the 2015 Surf to City Race starts on Saturday with the biggest fleet ever of more than 100 boats.

In between the bad weather there have been crews sorting and delivering boats by land and by sea and one of the best crews to hit the concrete at Qld Cruising Yacht Club today was the Central Qld Champion crew of Tony Constance on his 25 year old F-27 trimaran IntrIIgue. These guys ignored the flood warnings and let the bungs out on the boat to settle the boat on the trailer and get through the rising flood waters around the Gladstone highway to get to the start line on time. Their boat might be 27 years old, but they proved at Airlie Beach this year that 23.6 knots can still be attained with good rags and good crewing.

Some of the other crews out practising today included Neville McElroy’s F-22R up from Sydney and finding that a Moreton Bay squall is tougher than a lightweight carbon boom, so they spent the afternoon in the workshop getting a spar sorted for action.

Other crews are taking the time out to enjoy the sights at secluded anchorages while reports just in tonight show some crews exercising their right to party at Couran Cove Resort on the way to Southport for the start. The easterly wind looks good for a fast passage to Southport tomorrow, but there are reports that the wind will be so light on race day that some crews have booked their resort rooms again for a night on the way back home.

Whatever the weather, the prizes (including a Cumberland Whitsunday yacht charter) are huge in this the only event in Australia that comprises a true record-breaking bluewater event outside the Stradbroke and Moreton Islands, as well as a tactical dogfight inshore amongst the hottest sportsboats and slickest multihulls in the country (just don’t ask which is better in those two fleets).