Race Result to be queried in the High Court

by Ian Grant on 16 Apr 2001 England's oldest and most respected offshore yacht racing rules authority the Royal Ocean Racing Club will officially declare the winner of Queensland's Centenary Of Federation Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht race.

A protest lodged in the interest of fair sailing against provisional race winner Saltash 11 regarding the yachts International Rating Certificate was too complex to be resolved in Gladstone yesterday.

Similar queries and protests regarding measurement certificates have been lodged against this remarkable 35 years old sloop before following her previous race wins 1986,1992,1993,1999.

First questions were asked how a yacht originally designed as a day sailor by Englishman Jack Holt to contest the Y/W Diamond class racing could be classified as a safe yacht to race on the open ocean.

Now race rivals in the 2001 Easter offshore racing classic are requesting a clarification to hull modifications that were made in 1995 to the shape of her yachts stern.

Gladstone Race officials have resolved the past issues when Saltash 11 crewed by four outstanding ocean racing sailors Ian and Bill Wright, Peter Cavill and Tony Riek have outclassed the more modern designs to be the only yacht in the 53 year history of the classic to win under three different handicap rating systems.

All of these relatively modern handicap rules were formulated long after the yacht was built and therefore it's unfair for the sloop and crew to be named as rule cheaters.

Naturally the complex nature of the protest and the time it was officially lodged which was over 12 hours after Saltash 11 had finished could not be resolved which is the reason behind the evidence being forwarded to England.

Meanwhile the Saltash sailing team have convincingly proved that the little sloop that only contests one race a year has convincingly outsailed another highly competitive fleet to register her fifth win over the physically demanding 308-n/ml course.

In fact Saltash 11 which wave rode to exciting hull speed up to 17 knots before the power of the strong wind warning South Easterly breeze was just too good provisionally winning the race by almost 2 hours on corrected time from Belle (Simon and Carlos Steenland) and the former Hong Kong Mumm 36 Corum (Bill Wild).