Flat Chat clinches Gladstone race line honours

by Ian Grant on 30 Mar 2002 Southport Yacht Club catamaran skipper Jamie Morris clinched his fifth Brisbane to Gladstone line honours trophy when he piloted Flat Chat to a convincing victory on Gladstone Harbour this afternoon.

Flat Chat a relatively small 40ft catamaran settled a boat on boat match race with the larger Sydney pocket maxi Grundig (Sean Langman) when skipper Morris and crew powered over the finish line off Auckland Creek just after 4-30 today.

This was an impressive ocean sailing performance by the crew who were unrelentless in their bid to secure the history-making win for their skipper.

Naturally Morris who had rebuilt Flat Chat from a wreck over the past 12 months was full of praise for his crew of Duncan Van Woerden, Graham Argyle, Shane Dickson and Roger Overell who went with out sleep to ensure they stayed ahead of the equally impressive Grundig.

They were rewarded when Flat Chat started to log fast average speeds when she weathered the Breaksea Spit Light shortly after dawn then romping over the final 121 miles of the race in 11 hours.

Crew energy was running high when they entered the final 10 miles of the race with no need to sail hard as the power sailing catamaran had left her rivals in her wake.

Flat Chat powered away from the press boat at speeds in excess of 15 knots sailing faster than the 10-12 knot sea breeze.

'That was my fastest trip up Gladstone Harbour and certainly the most enjoyable, but it must be understood Flat Chat is sailed by a great crew and that was proved with what I consider as my career best result'. A proud Morris said.

Flat Chat finished almost 9 hours behind the race record but she beat both of the 2001 race record breakers Grundig and Rogntudjuuu (Philippe Coste) by more than 8 miles in a race that was spiced with a high sail changing workload to keep up a competitive boat speed against a ever changing wind.