Spinnaker Tales..Brisbane to Gladstone...with a Sunshine Coast perspective

by Ian Grant on 11 Apr 2001 There is a special smile of content on the weather-harrowed face of popular Sunshine Coast Multihull skipper Brian Anstee.

Brian always becomes a keen weather observer but that activity is intensified as Easter draws near while he sets a race strategy in place for the 308 n-m/l Brisbane-Gladstone ocean race.

Skipper Anstee who first started racing small plywood Quick Cats in the surf on the Gold Coast appreciates the nature and character of a wind disturbed ocean.

Wind provides the power and skipper Anstee hopes the present South East stream will hold when he pilots his comfortable cruising catamaran Predator over the offshore waters this Easter.

He and his talented crew of long term sailing mates are well known for their ability to drive their boat hard when the wind is up and this is the reason behind the skipper's contented frame of mind.

Predator will not produce the same speed as the more modern designs but her consistent speed, which generally logs around the high 15knot range in moderate to fresh winds makes her one of the favourites to win overall with the fastest corrected handicap time.

There is a strong chance that the Predator crew will have little time to wave to their supporters when they speed past Pt Cartwright on Good Friday afternoon.

The weather forecast of moderate to fresh South East winds will mean the spinnaker will be stressed to capacity and skipper Anstee will be in his element 'surfing' the larger than normal ground swell left over from tropical storm Sose as Predator tracks a fast course past the Sunshine Coast.

Point Cartwright will be the ideal vantage point to witness the 27 high performance Multihull fleet as they charge past on a mission to make race history with a new record.

Be there early or you could miss all of the action as the new generation catamarans Desperado, Team Raider, Raw Nerve, Rongntudjuuu and Room With A View duel for the lead after they exit Moreton Bay off Caloundra.

Similar interest will focus on the 53rd Brisbane-Gladstone classic for the conventional keel yacht fleet and their duel to feature in the winning team to claim the impressive Federation Cup.

This year's race sponsored as the major aquatic sport event in the Centenary of Federation Queensland celebrations has attracted a very strong fleet including the well-known Sunshine Coast sloop Eureka jointly skippered by Bob Robertson of Caloundra and America's Cup winning tactician Hugh Treharne of Sydney.

Other Sunshine Coast yachts to look out for is Jolly Rogers sail number 8666 skippered by Seddon Cripps, Hot Tub (4222) helmed by Shayne Farnnel and Rod Stevenson, Special Effect (5378) skippered by Ian Caroline and Pete Gourlay's The Little Boat (68).

All of these yachts are expected to be on the pace to register their crews career best course time in what appears to be a fast race similar to 1993 when the Sunshine Coast built pocket maxi set the remarkable time of 21 hours 59 minutes 43 seconds.