Five Brisbane to Gladstone wins for Martyn Riley

by Ian Grant on 22 Mar 2008 Victorian catamaran skipper Martyn Riley wrote another chapter in the 44 year history of Brisbane to Gladstone multihull races when he steered Raw to the Core to an impressive line honours win earlier today.

Riley looked almost certain to miss this race when his power sailing maxi-cat Raw Nerve was dismasted in the Adelaide to Port Lincoln race earlier this year.
Raw Nerve the Brisbane to Gladstone multihull class record holder which set an amazing 16.28knot average over the 308 n/ml course in 2004 remained in the Melbourne boatyard when the smaller Stuart Bloomfield designed sprint machine Raw to the Core showed her class to retain the unbroken record of five major trophy wins for her proud owner.

They were easily the star performers in yet another overnight sprint where Raw to the Core expressed her spinnaker sailing speed to improve from a poor start to take the lead from APC Max at the half way mark off Indian Head. 'It was an interesting and enjoyable race for us with no real problems apart from the start and the slow sail out of the bay.'

'But that all changed when we sailed into the fresher breeze off the Sunshine Coast on Friday night'.

'The little cat proved to be a joy to sail and we held good numbers reaching a peak of 17.4 knots just prior to passing APC Max'. Stuart Bloomfield said.
Her lead was dramatically extended when APC Max capsized near Indian Head.
'We were preparing for a match race and were not sure where APC Max was because there was no sign of navigation lights'. Stuart Bloomfield added.

Fortunately the four APC Max crew members were rescued unharmed by Rob Remilton’s Wilparina II crew which continued her race to Gladstone.

Wilparina 11 completed the course in fifth place over four hours astern of Raw to the Core however they are expected to apply for a redress which will ultimately improve her chances in the corrected handicap results which will be officially confirmed tomorrow.