MULTIHULLS TO BOOST 2001 AUSTRALIAN THREE PEAKS RACE IN TASMANIA

by Peter Campbell on 20 Feb 2001 Australia's ultimate endurance challenge, The Australian Three Peaks Race, will be boosted this coming Easter with at least four multihull yachts competing in the three to four-day, non-stop short-handed sailing and endurance mountain running event around the magnificent coast of Tasmania.

Starting from Beauty Point on the River Tamar on Good Friday, April 13, this 13th annual Australian Three Peaks Race is open to both monohull and multihull yachts, but the most multihulls to have competed in previous events has been three.

Race Director Alastair Douglas expects a highly competitive fleet to line up for the 335 nautical miles of sailing, 135 km of mountain running and 2646 metres of climbing the Three Peaks - Mt Strzelecki on Flinders Island, Mt Freycinet near Coles Bay and Mt Wellington in Hobart.

The experienced ocean racing owner Robin Chamberlin and designer Terry Travers are bringing Excess down from Queensland to take on the locals which include Phil Marshall's 30-footer Slingshot, a smaller version of Excess, and the trimaran Twisted Sister (Team Rosevears Tavern), owned by Marc Ellingston, but being sailed this year by Dale Schmidke.

The fourth multi competing will be the 50-foot cruising catamaran Slipstream owned by Richard Clennett with Robbie Gough as crew.

All four multis will have good runners, providing strong competition both on and off the water.

Heading the monohull fleet again will be Port Dalrymple Yacht Club (Beauty Point) members, brothers Nick and Richard Edmunds with their Radford-designed sisterships, Haphazard and Wildcard (Southern Cross).

Other early entries include Benny Parsons with Phantom (Camp Quality) and Peter Hesketh with his Adams 13, Sailmaker (Maintenance Systems).

The Governor of Tasmania, Sir Guy Green, will start the fleet from Beauty Point at 2 pm on Good Friday and later he and Lady Green will fly to Flinders Island to meet the sailors and runners when they finish the first leg at the little fishing port of Lady Barron.

Based on the original Three Peaks Race in Great Britain, the Australian Three Peaks Race began in 1989 and over the years has attracted sailors and runners from around the world.

The Good Friday start has been described as the River Tamar's version of the Sydney to Hobart Race start, with thousands of spectators lining the foreshore and hundreds aboard spectator craft accompanying the fleet to Low Head for the 90 nautical mile leg across Bass Strait to Lady Barron, noted for its tricky tides and sandbanks.

From there the runners face a tough cross-country run before a steep 756 metre climb to the granite peaks of Mt Strzelecki and back to join their yachts, a total of 65 km.

Ahead of them is a 140 nautical mile sail down the East Coast of Tasmania to Coles Bay, packed with Easter holidaymakers, followed by a 33 km bushland dash through the Freycinet National Park to climb 620 metres Mt Freycinet.

Then its on to Hobart, with yacht skippers having the alternative of sailing the coastal course around Tasman Island and across Storm Bay to the River Derwent, a distance of 100 nautical miles, or taking a short cut through the Dunalley Canal, where they must use manual propulsion in the form of sweep oars or the 'Heath Robinson' style bicycle-powered propellers mounted on the transom.

The final mountain dash is from Hobart's Sullivan's Cove to the 1270 metres high peak of Mt Wellington and back, a demanding distance of 35 km.

Further information: Peter Campbell - 0419 385 028 or pressofficer@threepeaks.org.au

or Alastair Douglas - racedirector@threepeaks.org.au