Heavy weather blasts Lexus Adelaide Port Lincoln

by Event Media/Sail-World on 24 Feb 2008 Carnage for the 2008 Lexus Adelaide Lincoln Bluewater Classic, with half the fleet retiring and one of line honours favourite dismasted. Grant Wharington’s supermaxi Skandia wins line honours and Brenton Pegler’s new Sydney 36CR Another Planet wins on handicap.

With the pre-race weather forecast on Thursday night suggesting a 20-30 knots south wester skippers were expecting a long slog to the famous South Australian fishing town.

By 1300 on Friday it was becoming apparent that conditions were strengthening. In the startline area in the St Vincent Gulf there were heavy two metre waves (the typically steep local variety) and the starting sequence was delayed by 15 minutes.

Lara III was the first retirement of the race after being hit by fellow RSAYS boat Renegade, skippered by Bob Francis who was competing in his 40th Bluewater Classic.

Many thought that Lara III wouldn’t be the last of the race, however very few expected what the morning would bring. 35 retirements out of a fleet of 68. The carnage started slowly with six boats out of the fleet not surviving until the 1805 sked.

An updated weather forecast informed the fleet of SW winds of 30-35knts and rising seas.

By 2200 boats were starting to drop like flies.

Melbourne orthodontist Martyn Riley’s super fast 50 foot catamaran Raw Nerve attempt at breaking the race record was in tatters after losing her mast in large seas during the early evening.

By Saturday morning day break eight of the nine starters in the Multihull division had retired, leaving Gerald Valk to claim the podium all on his own with his crew on board Timewarp.

A similar scenario had unfolded in the Cruising division with ten of the 12 starters fleeing for cover along the exposed lower York Peninsular. This left Tiki to claim bragging rights ahead of Milou.

After running onto Marion Reef, Here and Now were escorted back in to Edithburgh, whilst taking on water, by the local Sea Rescue. These tireless volunteers deserve our thanks from all for their vigilance over our vast coastline.

Grant Wharington’s super maxi Skandia A worked hard through the night, at times launching through the 3.5 metre swells at over 14 knots, and was forced to drop their headsail completely for an quite some times in an effort to depower the boat. It was certainly an exhilarating ride for retired double premiership Crows Captain Mark Ricciuto who had “an absolute ball”.

“We just weren’t able to get the record this time but we’re still pretty happy with our time given the stiff conditions through the night. I just know how hard it must have been for the smaller guys bashing straight in to that all night long” said Tim Cowen of The Boat Shed.

Skandia crossed the line at 0709 after a little under 16 hrs for the 156 nautical mile race.

Rager, skippered by owner Gary Shanks was second on line honours at 0937, with Nick George in his DK46 Exile crossing the line at 1031 in third place.

Winning this year’s 2008 Lexus Adelaide Lincoln Bluewater Classic on PHS and IRC was Brenton Pegler sailing his brand new Sydney 36 CR Another Planet.

After a record breaking list of retirements, organizers are pleased with the number of competitors bringing their boats by road from Adelaide just in time for Lexus Lincoln Race week.

Caillin Howard and crew on board Sixfish suffered some annoying gear failure. “We only started sailing my new Mumm 30 this season, so it was pretty annoying when a $10 dollar fitting ruins your race. We only lost our leech cord but we decided that if we continued in these conditions we were just going to flog our brand new sail to bits and end up missing out on race week.

'We all agreed that missing Race Week was not an option so we chucked the boat on the back of the car and here we are, just in time for the pub!'

2008 LEXUS BLUEWATER CLASSIC

43 boats are entered in Lexus Lincoln Race Week which will see crews sail six races over four days around the magnificent Boston Bay.