Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race - Mr Kite takes line honours

by Peter Campbell on 29 Dec 2010 Mr Kite has taken line honours in the Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race.

State-of-the-art yacht Mr Kite, skippered by prominent Hobart neuro-surgeon Andrew Hunn, has taken honours for the second year in succession in the Sargisons Jewellers & Natuzzi Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race.

Picking a light north-westerly breeze just before sunrise, after being becalmed, along with nearest rival 2 Unlimited, for two hours between Betsey Island and the Iron Pot at the entrance to the River Derwent, proved critical for Mr Kite.

'We had been becalmed for two hours when we got the light breeze and pulled away from 2 Unlimited,' Hunn said as he berthed the Cape/Barrett-designed 40-footer at the Kings Pier marina shortly after 8am.

Mr Kite took more than two hours to sail up the Derwent from the Iron Pot to the finish, taking long tacks in the 6 knot northerly breeze. She finally crossed the finish line off Castray Esplanade at 08:03:13 with 2 Unlimited, the Melges 32 skippered by Greg Prescott, finishing at 08:27:37.

Mr Kite, one of the smallest yachts in Australia with a canting keel, has undergone extensive modifications by local naval architect Fred Barrett and is now the fastest 40-footer in Tasmania.

'It was a challenging race, both in competition and in handling the weather variations with the wind raining from 28 knots in Bass Strait to 0 knots in Storm Bay,' Hunn said.

'The competition for line honours was much stronger this year with both Dump Truck and 2 Unlimited heading us at times, but we got that vital break this morning to pull away from 2 Unlimited south-east of Betsey Island,' he added.

With the north-west freshening to 15 knots by mid-morning, Dump Truck Justin Wells) and the Port Dalrymple Yacht Club entry Advantedge (Andrew Jones) had close duel for third place in fleet with Dump truck finishing at 10:17:09 and Advantedge at 10:20:52.

Fifth to finish was Intrigue (David Calvert) which had improved its position in the fleet overnight, crossing the line at 11:06:05. She was followed by the Tamar Yacht Club entry, Believe-Sundance Marine, Richard Fisher’s new Beneteau 45, at 11:44:02 and Nick Edmunds’ Haphazard at 11:49:26.

AMS handicap honours at this stage favour 2 Unlimited to hold her time on the rest of the fleet. Intrigue failed by about half an hour to beat 2 Unlimited on corrected time. Their only threats are the small boats Lock on Wood, skippered by DSS Commodore Peter Geeves, and Footloose (Stewart Geeves and Kaye Roberts).

The overall winner is the first placed boat on AMS corrected time but IRC and PHS results are also being scored.

The fresher winds are also giving the rest of the L2H fleet a fast sail across Storm Bay and Derwent Sailing Squadron race officials expect the entire fleet will have finished by tonight. Three yachts have now retired, the latest being Andrew Sutherland’s Silver Mist with rudder problems.