2009 Brisbane Gladstone – Sydney’s CYCA wins Federation Cup

by Ian Grant on 13 Apr 2009 The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia won the Federation Cup teams trophy recognised as the nautical version of the State of Origin in the 61st Brisbane to Gladstone Race over the Easter weekend.

The CYCA grabbed the Trophy when three Sydney boats took the top three placings on IRC handicap. Ray Roberts skippered Cookson 50 Quantum Racing sealed the popular win when her crew including five times Gladstone race winning skipper/navigator Richard Hudson successfully defended their 2008 IRC class win with a 25 minute 59 second victory over Wot Yot (Bill Sykes) while Graeme Wood steered Wot Now into third another 4 minutes 19 seconds astern.

All three highly competitive crews sailed to their potential in a complex weather system generally dominated by unfavourable 22 knot easterly winds which by the geographical nature of the course eliminated spinnakers for the initial 193 n/mls of the 308 nautical mile classic.

But despite the conditions and the added tactical gybing workload over the final 115 nautical miles Quantum Racing completed the course with an impressive 11.69 knot average leading Wot Now (11.51knots) and Wot Yot (11.32knots) to a deserved Federation Cup win.

Peter Harburg’s Jim Reichel and John Pugh designed 20.32m sloop Black Jack helmed by Brisbane’s Americas Cup sailor Mark Bradford predictably dominated the race for line honours completing the 308n/ml race in 22 hours 7 minutes 18 seconds.

However while this was an impressive line honours win and the fifth fastest time ever recorded in the 61 year history the New South Wales team showed their class to claim the second, third and fourth fastest times and 1-2-3 on overall corrected time