Launceston to Hobart - Believe heads up strong Tamar bid for honours
by Peter Campbell on 26 Dec 2011
The powerful Beneteau First 45 Believe starting last years L2H race Andrea Francolini Photography
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A Launceston yachtsman by the name of Richard Fisher, and his wife Katrina, enjoyed a ‘well organised cruise’ down the East Coast in the 2010 Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race in their brand new yacht Believe. This year they are confident the 'cruise' will be quicker. Yachting experts believe that Believe could, in fact, be a winner in the AMS division of this year’s Optus Launceston to Hobart.
The fifth L2H starts from Beauty Point on the Tamar River at 1.20pm on Tuesday, 27 December with a fleet of 31 yachts from Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria.
Believe, a French-built Beneteau First 45 arrived at the Tamar Yacht Club less than a month before last year’s L2H and Fisher was unable to get an AMS rating in time for race, competing under the arbitrary PHS handicap system.
'We sailed a leisurely race with the new boat, finishing sixth in the 31 boat fleet, but with a weighty PHS handicap, placed 23rd on corrected time,' said Fisher, who won Overall first place in the PHS division in 2009 with his previous boat Blue Sky, a Beneteau 40.7.
Richard and Katrina Fisher will be joined this year by an experienced crew, including Robert Matthews, Bill Rostron, Perry Forster, Steve Walker, Adrian Hardman, Mike Scottswood, Anthony Cornish and Mark Waldron.
Believe is one of eight northern yachts in the fifth annual Optus Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race and the boat with the greatest potential for an Overall victory.
Other northern yachts in the fleet are Allusive, John Joyce’s Lyons 14 and Ocean Freeway, Charles Booth’s Adams 15 from the Tamar Yacht Club, while representing the Port Dalrymple Yacht Club will be AdvantEdge, Andrew Jones’ Inglis 47, Haphazard, Nick Edmunds Radford 14, Obsession, David Allan’s Sydney 38 and Pogue Mahone, Dianne Haworth and David Woods’ Lidgard 10.6.
Another Tamar River based yacht in the fleet is Xplore, a Challenge 67 skippered by Stephen Wilkins. The former round-the-world racer will be competing under a Panama Yacht Club burgee but crewed mainly for yachtsmen from the Tamar River.
While Believe stands out as the strongest AMS handicap contender from the Tamar, the northern contingent includes several fast boats that could be among the front runners, including Richard Fisher’s Believe, AdvantEdge, Andrew Jones’ Inglis 47, Nick Edmunds’s Radford 14 Haphazard and, in heavy weather, the Challenge 67, Xplore, skippered by Stephen Wilkins.
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