Goldfinger takes line honours at Stanley

by Peter Campbell on 4 Nov 2006 The Farr 52 Goldfinger, skippered by Peter Blake, took line honours late this afternoon in the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria's 154 nautical mile race across Bass Strait from Melbourne to Stanley.

The race started from Queenscliff, just inside Port Phillip heads at 01.00 and Goldfinger, which previously raced as Ichi Ban, crossed the line at 17.35 hours, making good time in the south-west to southerly breeze of 15-20 knots, gusting to 20 knots at times.

Goldfinger beat Living Doll, Michael Hiatt's Cookson 50, by just 11 minutes with race director Angus Fletcher expecting the rest of the fleet to finish through tonight. 'They are well spread out, so it's going to be a long night,' he said from Stanley.

The race is a qualifying event for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the Heemskirk Melbourne to Hobart Race.