Spinnaker start likely for Audi Sydney Gold Coast

by Lisa Ratcliff on 26 Jul 2007
Skippers and crew attending tonight’s Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race briefing will be advised the windiest part of the entire 384 nautical mile race could be on Sydney Harbour this Saturday when a 10-15 knot south westerly breeze is likely to produce a colourful spinnaker start.

'The fleet can expect a southerly push on Saturday which is expected to ease into Sunday with winds likely to swing to nor’easterly sea breezes on Sunday afternoon, particularly off the mid north NSW coast,' said meteorologist Julie Evans today.

Monday’s forecast southerly push is now expected to be well offshore with minimal influence on the coastal zones and by Tuesday, those still at sea can expect light northerlies.

Mark Richards, skipper of the Reichel/Pugh 66 Wild Oats XI, sees Matt Allen’s Jones 70 Ichi Ban as the biggest threat for line honours.

'In a light air race, it’s going to be interesting to see how we go against Ichi Ban,' said Richards this afternoon. 'They have a lot more sail area but we have a lot less drag in the hull, and we’ve made a lot of modifications to suit light air sailing.'

While a second line honours trophy in this race would be a great result, it’s the handicap silverware Richards is after.

Wild Oats X is one of a number of boats racing north this Saturday that are entered in the four part Audi IRC National Championship with the Audi Sydney Gold Coast the third event in the championship series. With Skandia Geelong Week their only allowable drop, and a first in division in the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, Richards and owner Bob Oatley need solid results in the Audi Sydney Gold Coast and final event, Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, to be in the running for the major prize, an Audi Q7 performance SUV.

Ivan Resnekov, owner/skipper of the Farr 40 Impi, which means a Zulu regiment, was hoping for a heavier race for his first with this boat, but believes they’ll complete the coastal course in reasonable time.

'These F40 one design boats are a dream to steer and so easily driven that anything 10 knots plus on the beam, more if it’s aft, will mean we might get up there in reasonable time….if the breeze holds,' says Resnekov.

'We have flirted with a couple of Farr 40 one design regattas but our first love is ocean racing.

'In this race we are expecting the odd parking lot so tactical decisions such as where to park, in or out, will be a telling factor. We'd like 20-25 knots on our aft quarter but looking at the weather forecast, that's highly unlikely,' he added.

All this talk about weather is superfluous to the crew of the Davidson 42 Phillip’s Foote Witchdoctor which is owned by a syndicate of owners called The Rum Consortium. Their pre-race strategy is to take an extra couple of cases of beer to pass the time but of course it will have to be drunk reasonably quickly to keep the weight down on the boat they joke.

One of the consortium’s owners, Maurice Cameron, believes the boat has only missed one Sydney Gold Coast in the event’s 22 year history, and that was not for want of trying. In 2001 the start was postponed three times due to bad weather and Phillip’s Foote Witchdoctor was one of the withdrawals from the fleet.

While Cameron says he wasn’t on board for the inaugural Sydney Gold Coast in 1986, co-owners Ian Manley and Geoff Barter were amongst the crew as they will be this Saturday when they cruise to the start line off Nielsen Park in Sydney Harbour at 1pm.

'The boat has hardly changed since the first Gold Coast Race in 1986, in fact it’s basically still the same boat that was launched in 1979,' said Cameron, who is anticipating a very pleasant four day race.

Five amongst the 72-strong Audi Sydney Gold Coast fleet have also entered the Audi Sydney Mackay Yacht Race and will pass through the Audi Sydney Gold Coast finish line, record a finish time and a result for that race, and continue on without stopping to a second finish line at Mackay, a total distance of 898 nautical miles from Sydney.

The five Audi Sydney Mackay Yacht Race entries are; Amante (Dennis Cooper), Limit (Alan Brierty), Pelagic Magic (Ross McDonald), Sailors with disAbilities (David Pescud) and Tartan (Ian Sanford).

The Bureau of Meteorology will deliver their pre-race forecast at tonight’s skipper’s briefing with crews given a final weather update at the weather briefing on Saturday morning at 8.30am.

Official race websites http://goldcoast.cyca.com.au / http://mackay.cyca.com.au

Audi Australia www.audi.com.au