World record 50th race for Brisbane to Gladstone veteran

by Ian Grant on 8 Mar 2002 World yacht racing history will continue on Brisbane's Bramble Bay on Good Friday morning when the start signal is fired for the Down Town Duty Free Brisbane-Gladstone ocean race.

Among the fleet of yachts setting a compass course to clear Moreton Bay will be the famed 15m ketch Laurabada.

Remarkably Laurabada racing under the command of second-generation family skipper Ivan Holm jnr will be steered on her 50th consecutive race over the 308-n/ml course.

No other yacht in world history of the sport can challenge this amazing family tradition that started out as a determined father's dream in 1953 to become a devoted son's legacy in 2002.

There are no parallels to this legendary story created by the late master mariner Ivan Holm snr two years before setting sail as a crewmember with the inaugural Gladstone race fleet in 1949.

The grey-ironbark keel of Laurabada was hand crafted and laid up on the bank of Cabbage Tree creek in 1947.

Her 6 year construction restricted by a limited cash flow and time taken to personally select naturally bent Tea Tree shapes from the local wetlands and weathered teak from scuttled wreck of the Lucinda set the platform for a labour of love and the personal pride for 'Skipper' Holm to sail his own yacht in Queensland's Blue Water classic.

Every feature in the building of Laurabada was the foundation of a single persons determination to build a yacht that would last and weather the elements beyond his lifetime.

He understood each nail hammered into the hull and all the Tea Tree angular shaped roots fixed in place became a step closer to the valued pride of standing watch behind the helm as his yacht started a remarkable voyage into the history of World yachting records.

As expected there were some special memories associated with launch day in February 1953.

Family and friends sweated with pick and shovel to dig a trench deep and long enough to allow Laurabada to slip from her building site into nearby Cabbage Tree creek.

Her designer, builder and skipper proudly gripped the teak timber steering wheel knowing that part of the forming of Australia's constitution was in his hands.

The ships wheel was meticulously hand crafted from teak timber originally laid on deck of the steam ship Lucinda which was the vessel chosen for an Easter cruise on the Hawkesbury River while officials drafted our National constitution.

When the magnificent ketch finally slipped into the water she represented the completion of a dream as she floated at her mooring rigged with her handcrafted masts shaped from 22-inch Douglas fir poles and shinny brass cleats personally salvaged from a captured World War 11 Japanese barge.

Today Laurabada represents the real spirit of a family who are devoted to an unmatched love of the sport.

Skipper Holm set a personal record of sailing Laurabada in 43 races now son Ivan who has spent more than 25 years as part of her Gladstone Race crew has the opportunity to break out a special toddy of rum from the ships liquor locker when she sails on her 50th race in Queenslands premier Blue Water classic.