Maria Island Yacht Race off to a flying start

by Peter Campbell on 18 Nov 2011 TasPorts Maria Island Yacht Race, organised by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, got underway this evening, Friday 18th November. The 19 boat fleet is tonight enjoying an exhilarating spinnaker run across Storm Bay with the leaders likely to round Tasman Island before midnight.

The fleet has been running and reaching under spinnakers since the start off Hobart’s Castray Esplanade at 1900 hours. Three hours later the leaders, Helsal III and Mr Kite, were about seven nautical miles WSW of Cape Raul.

From Tasman Island the fleet heads north up the East Coast to round Maria Island, the historic island off Orford, before heading back to Hobart later tomorrow.

Helsal III, Rob Fisher’s Adams/Barrett 60, hit the starting line at speed with her spinnaker fully hoisted, but going down the Derwent was passed by the speedy Melges 32, 2 Unlimited, skippered by Greg Prescott.

Since then the 60-footer’s waterline and the freshening northerly winds have seen Helsal III take the lead, heading out into Storm Bay at the Iron Pot with Andrew Hunn’s Cape/Barrett 40 Mr Kite close astern. As they closed Cape Raoul they were hitting speeds of 10-12 knots.

By 2200 hours, all the fleet was well into Storm Bay with Wildfire, Malcolm Robinson’s Farr 31 at the tailend. Wildfire lost 11 minutes returning to re-start after being called OCS and not responding for more than five minutes. Auch, skippered by Richard Scarr, also broke the start, but lost less than half a minute re-starting.

Heading the main group of yachts at 2200 hours was the MBD 36 Whistler, skippered by David Rees, closely followed by 2 Unlimited, Auch, Dump Truck (Justin Wells), Pisces (David Taylor) and Martela (Anthony Williams).

Whistler, Dump Truck and Martela are all entries in next month’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, as are two of the tailenders in the fleet, Not Negotiable (John Raynor) and Natelle Two (Laura Roper).

Helsal III and Mr Kite are expected to be prominent competitors in the Optus Launceston to Hobart Race, which starts on December 27, a day after the Sydney Hobart.

Maria Island Race principal race officer, RYCT Vice Commodore Roger Martin, said this evening that forecasts indicated good sailing conditions throughout tonight and early on Saturday, although winds could be soft in the vicinity of Maria Island.

He does not expect the first boats to finish the 189 nautical mile course until late Saturday night, with the rest of the fleet coming up during Sunday morning.