Plum Crazy's comeback for Great Veterans Race

by Peter Campbell on 26 Mar 2008 One of the fastest and most colourful small offshore racing yachts of the 1970s, Plum Crazy, and her equally colourful owner/skipper, 'Tig' Thomas, are making a comeback for the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's annual Great Veterans Race.

Sailing with 'Tig' on his beloved Plum Crazy will be two of his crew, Bob Beesley and Rob Ogilvie, who were aboard the Half Tonner when she set the fastest time ever for a yacht under 9.5m LOA in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, back in 1975.

The Great Veterans Race for the Westward Trophy, along with the Ladies Day Race for the Jill McLay Trophy, are the feature events of the opening day of the CYCA's Audi Winter Series on Sunday week, 6 April.

Plum Crazy will line up with up to a dozen former Sydney Hobart racing yachts built more than 30 years ago in the Great Veterans Race, including former line honours winner Fidelis, handicap runner-up and early Admiral's Cup team member Caprice of Huon and One Ton Cup winner Stormy Petrel.

'Tig' Thomas, a lively character of Sydney sailing and past Commodore of Middle Harbour Yacht Club, campaigned 'The Plum' in Australia and overseas in the 1970s. He turns 82 in July, but still actively cruises with Plum Crazy and enjoys the occasional social race with the 37-year-old boat.

Plum Crazy no longer has the deep purple hull that made her so distinctive in her early racing days, but she has a purple cove line on her white topsides and the crew will look resplendent in purple tee-shirt for the Great Veterans Race.

Designed by two of Australia's most innovative designers of the 1970s and 1980s, Bob Miller (Ben Lexcen) and Joe Adams, Plum Crazy placed 16th overall and first in Division 2 of the 1971 Sydney Hobart.

In the 1975, Plum Crazy was again the first Half Tonner to finish, winning Division 2B but was placed 70th overall in the year that Kialoa II set the race record of 2 days 14 hours 36 minutes and 56 seconds that was to stand for 21 years.

Plum Crazy's own elapsed time that year of 4 days 01 hours 18 minutes and 16 seconds was also a record, for a yacht under 9.5m LOA - and it still stands in 2008!

'And don't forget, 'The Plum' and other smaller boats had to weather a 70 knot sou'wester before we could finish,' the veteran owner/skipper skipper recalled this week. 'The crew was co-owner Max Bowen, myself, Joe Hootan as navigator, Rob Ogilvie, Bob Beesley and Martin 'Ferdie' Leschkau - and Bob and Rob are still sailing with me.

'That's three-fifths of the 1975 crew still on 'The Plum', ' he added. 'They love the boat as much as I do.'

In the 1971 race, the crew comprised 'Tig' and his brother Ted, Doug Brooker as navigator, Rolly Bull and Richard Hart.

Thomas and Bowen later presented to the CYCA a half model of the little boat as the 'Plum Crazy Trophy' for the first yacht under 9.5m LOA to finish the Hobart Race. Sean Langman's Maluka won the 'Plum Crazy Trophy' in the 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.

Between 1971 and 975, Plum Crazy had many successes in offshore racing, winning the first two South Solitary Island Races on handicap and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron's Dunhill Half Ton Series. She also represented Australia at the World Half Ton Cup in Denmark, where she placed 10th overall in a crack international fleet.

Thomas sold 'The Plum' in the late 1970s, but when the chance came to buy her back from Pittwater yachtsman John Howard he jumped at the chance. 'I went for a sail with John, steered the boat all day, and when we got back to the moorings we settled the deal in three minutes.'

'Tig' Thomas had two stints as Commodore of MHYC and was a driving force at the club. He is a Life Member. He is also a past Commodore and Life Member of the Wagga Wagga Boat Club where he began his sailing career in 12 square metre (heavyweight) Sharpies and in Gwen 12s.

In addition to Plum Crazy, Fidelis, Caprice of Huon and Stormy Petrel (last year's winner) other entries for the Great Veterans Race include Malohi,, Roiaata, Lolita and Carinya. Stormy Petrel also competed in the 1971 Sydney Hobart, placing 13th on corrected time, with Plum Crazy 16th.