Jones and Alegria crew ready for the opposition

by Ian Grant on 6 Aug 2008
Highly successful Sunshine Coast Ocean racing skipper Rod Jones is expecting to face a supreme test of his proven tactical racing skill during the 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week starting with the Lindeman Island race on Saturday August 23.

Skipper Jones and his equally talented crew of Mooloolaba sailing mates were a class act winning championship events in Victoria and New South Wales before finally claiming the prestigious 2007 Audi Australian IRC class championship at Hamilton Island last August.

They have since defended their Queensland IRC championship over the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron courses on Moreton Bay and while this result has continued to protect his ranking skipper Rod Jones has wisely adopted a conservative approach.

Both he and the crew have not raced on the open ocean since contesting the 308 n/ml Brisbane to Gladstone race over the Easter weekend which suggests they could be a little ‘rusty’ when their proven technique and tactical strategy is tested against the Sydney Hobart standard fleet in the warm Whitsunday Islands later this month.

But there was an important element of confidence when the crew made the final preparations for the delivery voyage at the Mooloolaba Marina earlier this week.

The impressive new unraced Archambault A40rc Alegria has remained the focus of attention during her sail evaluation trials off Mooloolaba.

'We have trained hard and are slowly getting it all together, Alegria is hitting all its target numbers and feels sensational' Rod Jones said.
Her performances are certainly encouraging but it will become a totally different set of circumstances when they compete for clear sailing space against a very competitive fleet at Hamilton Island.

Alegria in spite of having no form guide has the design potential combined with the crew skills to be ranked among the top ten contenders which include the 2007 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week champion Yendys (Geoff Ross) and the 2008 Brisbane-Gladstone and Sydney Gold Coast champion Quantum Racing (Ray Roberts).

Recent results suggest Quantum Racing will be the pacemaker however skipper Ray Roberts and his World championship winning tactician Steve McConaghy who wisely retain a healthy respect for the fleet know they will have their reputation and racing record tested before the championship is decided during the Molle-Daydream Island passage race on August 30.

Intense interest will also surround the line honours match race between the Bob Oatley owned and Mark Richards skippered Wild Oats X when the champion combination share the sailing space on the start line with Peter Harburg’s sensationally fast Club Marine Brisbane-Keppel race champion Black Jack.

Both high performance sloops designed by the Californian based John Reichel and Jim Pugh are almost identical and are set to stage a thrilling match race for the line honours trophy.

There will be no blood on the deck but this clash promises to turn into a tactical ‘dog-fight’ with Bob Oatley’s triple Sydney-Hobart line honours winning crew facing a serious test to retain their title as Australia’s fastest long and short course ocean racing crew.