Flight of the Gull leads Mooloolaba team south

by Tracey Johnstone on 4 Oct 2007 Mooloolaba Yacht Club sailor Bob Robertson is renowned for calling his yachts by some unusual names. The name of his new yacht, launched this week, is no exception.

Flight of the Gull is the latest in a long line of yacht names Robertson has taken from classic Neil Diamond songs.

It follows on from Beautiful Noise and Hot August Night and some non-Diamond names including Wonder Woman, Monkey Magic and Queensland Maid.

Robertson says the latest name originates from his enjoyment of Neil Diamond music.

'I like his song names and I am not into Greek goddess names. I reckon why waste my brain power when the guys are being paid big dollars to come up with the names for (Diamond) songs.I also believe that no one else would be silly enough to have used the name Flight of the Gull for their boat.

'In the song, like Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the seagull was trying to break the sound barrier but used to spin out of control a lot of times. We could spin out of control with this boat as we try to break our own sound barrier,' Robertson says.

Flight of the Gull is a new breed of yacht built in Istanbul by a Danish boat builder and imported by Jamie McPhail's Symbol Yachts. The Enigma 34 is sleek, slim and expected to be very fast.

'I first read about the boat as it was going into production in Turkey. It is designed by Mark Mills who is the flavour of the month in yacht design. He is the designer of DK46s and has been involved in America’s Cup campaigns.

Robertson’s first event with the new boat will be this weekend’s Manly Hotel St Helena Cup held on Moreton Bay.

The cup is annual team event hosted by Wynnum Manly Sailing Club. In its 31st year the event will attract 40 teams from around Queensland and northern NSW.

Those teams of trailable, monohull and multihull boats will compete in two 21 nautical mile races over the weekend.

Event media officer Col Ramsay says the major attraction of the St Helena Cup is that it is the largest teams event in the southern hemisphere. He also says the competitive racing and a great social environment back at the club make for a great weekend.

Joining Robertson in the event and forming the 'Likahotbird' team from Mooloolaba Yacht Club yacht will be David Turton’s Likatiger and Ken Down’s Wasabi.

Turton’s boat is also new being launched just last Friday. Likatiger is a small, fast machine built in Xiamen in China. The Flying Tiger 10 metre, designed by American Robert Perry, is an affordable club racer using low-tech materials and suitable for racing by up to nine crew.

Down’s Wasabi was designed and built by fellow club member Jon Sayer. Launched earlier this year Down campaigned her in this year’s 5500 nautical mile Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Club. This will be his first time racing Wasabi in short, close racing.

Robertson says the club has been competing in the cup since day one.

'The club has a tradition of 45 years being very competitive. We are still there and still going strong. The team will go down (to Brisbane) this weekend and get the best result. Last year the club team came third'.

The team’s closest rivals are likely to be from either the Wynnum Manly Sailing Club or Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.

They will be racing in the arbitrary division as none of them have as yet been measured for IRC racing. This will mean that not only will they have to contend with racing in a large and competitive fleet they will also be at the mercy of the Brisbane's club’s handicappers.

With such a strong team and a determination to win perhaps in 2007 the Mooloolaba Yacht Club will take out the coveted St Helena Trophy and Robertson might be able to keep Flight of the Gull under control long enough to win another individual trophy.