Final weather forecast for Audi Sydney Southport

by Lisa Ratcliff on 24 Mar 2007 The Bureau of Meteorology this morning advised crews contesting the Audi Sydney Southport Yacht Race that the weather system that will hit the Hunter region at around 11pm tonight is dynamic with thunderstorms and 30-40 knot winds offshore, possibly higher in the gusts.

Race organisers, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, will closely monitor the situation at sea following the 1pm start today on Sydney Harbour.

Stephen Ainsworth, owner/skipper of the Reichel/Pugh 60 Loki believes it could be a race of attrition.

“There’s no doubt it’s going to be a fast race…the main thing is not to break anything. We won’t be pushing it too hard because we have a lot of racing this year. The boat will be packed up and gone by the middle of May for Cowes Week and the Rolex Fastnet Race”.

Navigator on Ichi Ban, Will Oxley, believes the conditions don’t necessarily point towards a record breaking run as he expects they and Skandia will be well north by the time the front hits.

“We aren’t expecting the southerly to reach us until the early hours of tomorrow morning, then we’ll be playing around at the front of it whereas Beau Geste and Yendys and other boats of a similar size will carry it up with them. They’ll be snapping at our transoms,” predicts Oxley.

With NW/NE winds at the start, freshening to 20-25 knots this afternoon and, Oxley expects, a light westerly land breeze before the southerly makes its presence felt, Ichi Ban’s navigator believes Skandia will get a good break.

“The conditions point towards Skandia getting a good lead on us…it’s going to be hard to close that gap,” Oxley said following this morning’s final Weather Briefing.

AFR Midnight Rambler’s co-skipper Ed Psaltis says the forecast is good for his Farr 40 but agrees “the hardest thing is going to be keeping the boats together. We’ll be pushing it hard but it’s a fine line, we have to find that balance,” Psaltis added.

With gale force winds forecast offshore, AFR Midnight Rambler, and plenty others amongst the 46 boat fleet plan to sail the ‘rock hopping’ course by staying close to shore and out of the full force of the south sou’easter which is expected to persist through to Tuesday next week.

Official race website www.southport.cyca.com.au

Audi Australia www.audi.com.au