Launceston to Hobart Yacht set for a record fleet

by Peter Campbell on 30 Nov 2010 Australia’s newest and fastest growing ocean race, the Sargisons Jewellers and Natuzzi Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race around the spectacular east coast of Tasmania, looks certain to attract a record fleet of between 35 and 40 boats this year.

Starting on Monday, 27 December, organisers are predicting an ongoing lift in entries for the fourth edition of the 280 nautical mile race from the Tamar River in the north of the State to Derwent River in the south.

This will make it second only to the 66-year-old Sydney Hobart as the biggest annual ocean race fleet to finish at Tasmania’s capi tal city.

The Minister for Sport and Recreation, David O’Byrne, launched the fourth annual Sargison Jewellers and Natuzzu Launceston to Hobart Race at the Derwent Sailing Squadron in Hobart today.

'The State Government is proud to support sailing in this state and recognises the important role it plays in providing opportunities for Tasmanians to participate in physical activity, both competitively and socially,' the Minister said.

'Participation in sport and recreation benefits both the individual and the broader community, with sailing requiring physical and mental fitness,' he said, adding that more than 8000 Tasmanians currently participate in some form of sailing annually.

As of today, 24 yachts from Launceston and Hobart had been entered with a fleet of between 35 and 40 boats expected when entries close tomorrow evening.

Expected entries include last year’s line honours winner Andrew Hunn’s Cape/Barrett 40 Mr Kite and runner-up The Fork in the Road, the Bakewell-White 45 skippered by Gary Smith, while the line honours winner of the recent Maria Island Race, David Creese’s DK46 Dekadence has already entered.

This will be the first L2H for Dekadence, as it will be for Edward Fader and Justin Wells’ Ker 11. 3 Dump Truck, a two-times division winner in the Sydney Hobart, and for Greg Prescott’s Melges 32 2Unlimited.

A brand new Beneteau First 45 has been built in France for Launceston yachtsman Richard Fisher and his wife Katrina, arriving by ship in Melbourne two weeks ago. Fisher, the overall handicap winner of last year’s race with his Beneteau 40.7 Blue Sky, plans to sail the new yacht across Bass Strait next weekend. It will race as Believe-Sundance Marine.

Two other northern boats entered are David Stephenson’s Frers 39 Matangi which placed fifth in IRC division 4 of last year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart, and Nick Edmunds’ Three Peaks Race veteran competitor, his Radford 14 Haphazard.

Also entered for the first time is the Don Calvert’s former Admiral’s Cup team yacht, the Tony Castro-designed 40-footrer Intrigue, which will be sailed by his son, David.

Early entrants include Malcolm Cooper’s Snook 30 Kaiulani, Jeff Cordell’s Mumm 36 Host Plus Executive, Steve Chau and Lyle Borlase’s Sydney 38 Ciao Baby II, Anthony Ellis’ Wright 10.6 Moonshadow and DSS Commodore Peter Geeves’ 9.5 Dubois-designed Lock on Wood.

'This makes for a quality fleet, both for line honours and handicap results,' Commodore Peter Geeves said today. 'The AMS handicap category will be very strong this year, although we will continue to have an IRC division and all boat are eligible to compete under PHS handicaps.'

Organised by Derwent Sailing Squadron in conjunction with the Tamar Yacht Club, the L2H was conceived early 2007 as an alternative coastal ocean race for Tasmanian yachts to the long established Sydney Hobart and Melbourne Hobart races.

Because of its coastal nature and shorter duration (between two and three days) the cost of competing in the L2H is considerably less and it also enables skippers and crews to have Christmas with families before the race starts, at 3pm on 27 December 2010. The DSS even runs a courtesy bus to take Hobart crews up the Midland Highway for the start.

Following the successful change to the starting line introduced last year, the fleet will again set sail from Inspection Head wharf at Beauty Point, a few miles upstream from Low Head where the Tamar River reaches Bass Strait.

Last year the wharf was packed with spectators, as were the foreshores of the Tamar downstream, while many pleasure craft followed the fleet to Low Head.

Adding to public interest is that the course down the east coast takes the fleet inside Maria Island off Orford, while the positions of the yachts can be followed in real time accessing on the internet the OceanTracker satellite tracking system

The 2010 Launceston to Hobart has sponsorship from two Tasmanian-owned companies. Last year’s naming rights sponsors, Sargisons Jewellers, have been joined by Natuzzi, importers of high quality, Italian-made furniture.

The Launceston to Hobart Race will start at 3pm on Monday, 27 December, again from a line off Inspection Head wharf at Beauty Point on the Tamar River, giving the fleet a testing dash of several nautical miles before clearing Low Head and sailing into the open waters of Bass Strait.

From there the course will take the yachts through notorious Banks Strait between the north-east tip of Tasmania and the Furneaux Islands before heading down the Tasmanian east coast sailing through The Mercury Passage between Maria Island and the Tasmanian mainland.

As they sail down the east coast the L2H boats probably will sail in company with those racing from Sydney and Melbourne to the joint finish of all three races off Castray Esplanade below Hobart’s historic maritime suburb of Battery Point.