Wild Oats X pushing hard to the finish

by Lisa Ratcliff on 31 Jul 2005 This afternoon Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race leader Wild Oats X was holding a healthy five-mile lead over nearest rival Wild Joe (Steven David) and the word from the boat is they will keep pushing as hard as they can until they’ve clinched line honours for the first time.

‘We won’t be taking the pressure off until we’ve finished this race,’ helmsman Mark Richards said this afternoon. ‘Wild Joe is still a threat, they keep bringing the fresher breeze to us,’ he said as they were sailing in a 12 knot sou’easter off Coffs Harbour with 150 nautical miles to go in this 384 nautical mile annual race.

Both Wild Oats X and Wild Joe are first time entrants in this blue water classic which signals the start of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s offshore season and is the curtain opener to the popular series of Queensland regattas, which follow.

Based on their current speed, Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats X is due to finish mid tomorrow morning with another couple due before lunchtime and during the afternoon before a steady steam of yachts start to cross the finish line off Southport’s Main Beach.

The third boat in the fleet is Sean Langman’s AAPT, a two-time line honours winner of this race while the fourth boat, Neale Cawse’s 60-footer Vanguard, is also enjoying its maiden Gold Coast Race. Vanguard is the first boat for many years to represent the finishing club, Southport Yacht Club.

‘We are trying to keep in touch with the two canting keelers while at the same time putting some distance between us and the two Reichel/Pugh 46s Hardys Secret Mens Business and XLR8,’ said Cawse this afternoon.

‘It feels better now the breeze has freshened and we can see the miles starting to be chewed up,’ he added.

Spirits are equally high on the 11th placed boat, Martin James’ Maserati.

‘After a less than promising weather forecast read out in the cold of the 7.00am position report this morning, we now have some great sailing conditions and we have been reminded this is why we go yacht racing,’ James said.

‘Having spent a difficult morning trying to stay ahead of Merlin, UBS Wild Thing and Ragamuffin, we have now gained on them and have Yendys, Hardy’s Secret Men’s Business and Living Doll all in our sights.

‘If this breeze holds for the rest of the afternoon, it may be difficult to get anybody to go off watch when it’s time for a changeover! Nobody here would miss this sailing for anything’.

On the Sydney 38 Next, skipper Alison Thompson, the only female skipper, says this race has been extremely tactical.

‘When it went light this morning, if was tricky finding pathways through the other boats and today we’ve peeled spinnakers at least five times but it’s been great having the southerly rather than having to tack up the coast in a sea breeze, which was originally forecast,’ Thompson said.

Handicap positions have altered significantly this morning with only Ray White Koomooloo still holding a top five position.

Leslie Green’s Swan 45 Ginger has led the fleet on IRC handicap since late morning and is still at the top of the leader board ahead of Lawrence Freedman’s Farr 54 Espresso Forte while Syd Fischer’s trusty Ragamuffin has slipped into third place.

Current PHS handicaps have Peter Blair’s Time Out leading CYCA Commodore Geoff Lavis’ UBS Wild Thing and Paul Spira’s Dreamtime.

Many of the fleet today reported sighting pods of whales that it seems are also travelling north to warmer Queensland waters.