Launceston to Hobart - Dash to Low Head for Tasports Trophy Series

by Peter Campbell on 27 Dec 2010 The prestige of winning the dash from Beauty Point to Low Head has added significance for many yachts in the Sargisons Jewellers & Natuzzi Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race.

The six nautical miles down the Tamar River from the start off Inspection Heads to the Farewell Beacons is the first leg of the Tasports Trophy, which takes in account AMS handicap results in the overall Launceston to Hobart Race and the Jeanneau King of the Derwent on 2 January.

A fast dash to Low Head is predicted with a 15 knot westerly breeze blowing an hour and a half before the scheduled 3pm start, but it may be too shy for spinnakers to be hoisted until the fleet clears the Tamar River and turns right along the north-east coast of Tasmania.

Offshore, the wind is expected to be stronger with a seaway still running after the overnight front moved through Bass Strait, but the forecast is for the breeze to lighten as the fleet moves through Banks Strait, the notorious passage between the north-east tip of Tasmania and the Furneaux Islands.

'We hope to get through Banks Strait before the tide changes and the wind drops away this evening,' said Dr John Saul, navigator on Greg Prescott’s Melges 32 2 Unlimited, expected to be one of the front runners as the fleet clears Low Head.

A fleet of 33 yachts will set sail in the 285 nautical mile race along Tasmania’s north-east coast, through Banks Strait, down the east coast, through the Mercury Passage inside Maria Island, before rounding Tasman Island for the final legs across Storm Bay and up the River Derwent to the finish off Castray Esplanade.