Lord Howe Island race prospers

by David Slater on 29 Jun 2007 Early November promises to be a busy time in the Lord Howe Island lagoon.

The Gosford Sailing Club reports receiving 22 confirmed entries for the 34th running of their Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race. The 414nm Category One event starts in Broken Bay on October 27.

Meanwhile, the annual BBQ ‘Cruise-in-Company’ to Lord Howe a fortnight after the race has already attracted expressions of interest from twelve yachts.

Defending overall winner of the Gosford-LHI race, David Forbes, has again entered his lift-keel flyer Merlin. Other yachts backing up from the 2006 race include Polaris of Belmont, Azzurro, Endorfin, Local Hero and AFR Midnight Rambler.

The line-honours contest is likely to be between Yendys (Geoff Ross) and the veteran V60 Getaway Sailing (Peter Goldsworthy).

Two regular LHI skippers returning to the race after ‘a year off’ are Warwick Sherman, campaigning Occasional Coarse Language, and Bill Koppe who has recently acquired the powerful Camper & Nicholson 1970 Sydney-Hobart handicap winner Pacha.

Gosford-LHI Race Director, Mark Greenwood, is pleased that the event has attracted a balanced fleet from a variety of East Coast clubs. 'There are roughly the same number of shallow and deep-draft entries,' he said. 'The IRC and PHS handicap divisions are also about equal, and we've got yachts coming from Queensland and Victoria. It's going to be a terrific event.'

Greenwood confirmed that establishment of the projected Gosford-to-Gosford long distance ‘round trip’ race had been postponed. 'We had significant interest, but not enough yet to justify the additional expense and organisational effort involved.'

Contact the Gosford Sailing Club for further details. www.gosfordsailingclub.com.au