Australian Skandia Wild Thing demolishes Bass Strait crossing record.

by Al Constable on 8 Jan 2003 Merit Navigator holds Strait record for 16 minutes 42 seconds.

Ian Treleaven’s Volvo 60 Merit Navigator crossed the finish line at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay this afternoon at 3:31:02 pm.

In this inaugural Navigator Dash, she set a new Bass Strait crossing time of 14 hours 47 minutes and 56 seconds, well inside of the fastest recorded crossing time set by Westerly’s Prowler on a reverse course in the 1998 Melbourne to Devonport race of 19 hours, 32 minutes, 58 seconds.

However as Treleaven had earlier predicted, it was a record they would only hold for a little time as Grant Wharington’s giant 82-foot Australian Skandia Wild Thing was closing fast.

Having started an hour and 55 minutes after Merit Navigator in this race against the clock she had speed across Bass Strait in 13 hours 7 minutes and 21 seconds.

Australian Skandia Wild Thing finished at 15:48:18, with the two boats wheeling into the Bay with another 28 miles to sail with the flooding tide up to Station Pier in Port Melbourne.

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