Australian Three Peaks Race 2011 starts off at a cracking pace

by Peter Campbell on 22 Apr 2011 Australian Three Peaks Race is a non-stop offshore sailing and endurance mountain running event, in Tasmania, commencing at Beauty Point just north of Launceston on the Tamar River and finishing in Hobart on the Derwent River. En-route, teams have to scale Mt Strzelecki, Mt Freycinet and Mt Wellington.

The Victorian catamaran Peccadillo is setting a cracking pace this evening as she surfs downwind at speeds of up to 20 knots on the first sailing leg, 90 nautical miles from Beauty Point on the Tamar River to Lady Barron on Flinders Island.

Tasmanian Governor Peter Underwood fired the starting cannon at Beauty Point at 2pm and by 7pm Peccadillo, was halfway across eastern Bass Strait.

Race officials expect Peccadillo, skippered by Melbourne yachtsman Charles Meredith, to finish soon after midnight where her strong running team will set off on a moonlit, 65km cross-country run and mountain climb to Mt Strzelecki and return to Lady Barron.

Running second to Peccadillo, a Chris White designed Atlantic 46 Mk II, was the Hobart catamaran VisitiFlindersIsland.com.au, skippered by Steve Laird from Hobart, followed closely by the first yacht in the monohull division, Andrew Jones’ Inglis 46 Advantedge, from Port Dalrymple Yacht Club.

Then came the third catamaran in the fleet, Team Slingshot, skippered by Jean-Pierre Ravanat from Hobart, followed by Peter Allan’s Sydney 38 Cradle Mountain Chateau and last year’s winner, Whistler, the Dovell 36 skippered by David Rees, also from Hobart.

While Peccadillo and the other leaders were sailing a rhumbline course to Lady Barron, Whistler and Tamar River entrant Haphazard, the Inglis 47 skippered by Nick Edmunds on his 23rd Three Peaks Race, were sailing a lower course off the Tasmanian north-west coast.

Tailender in the fleet is Don’t Panic, a Beneteau First 12 skippered by Jamie Cooper in his 10th Three Peaks Race.

The second sailing leg of the Three Peaks Race is from Lady Barron to Coles Bay on the Tasmanian East Coast, with the fresh to strong westerly winds expected to continue throughout Australian Three Peaks Race website