Surf to City Yacht Race record waiting to be broken

by Nigel Statham on 6 Jan 2012 The 19th anniversary of the ever popular Surf to City Yacht Race will be held this coming Saturday, the 14th January.

The unique race starts at Southport Yacht Club and finishes just off Shorncliffe Pier. Two fleets compete in the event, with the smaller boats taking a 50 nautical mile route inshore of the Stradbroke Islands whilst the bigger yachts take a 100 nautical mile course around the outside of the island and then the top of Moreton Island.

In the Offshore Fleet, the Peter Harburg owned Black Jack will once again be attempting to beat the race record which has eluded them in the last few attempts. The record which stands at 9Hrs 36Mins 45Secs has stood since 2002. Most skippers agree that the record set by Bob Sled is manageable but rests entirely with the wind.

Members of the public will be able to follow the race as it happens via the live Tracertrak yacht tracking system on the race website, www.surf2city.com.au

'The Tracertrak system updates the yachts positions every five minutes and allows everyone to get involved with the race. In previous years we have seen traffic on the site reach over one million visits' said Nigel Statham, Race Director for the event.

Whilst the Inshore fleet won’t be carrying trackers, the race organisers at Queensland Cruising Yacht Club will still have a good idea where all the boats are via a series of Check Vessels that the competitors have to pass along the course.

Vivace, owned by Noel Leigh-Smith, will be defending her Inshore line honours title which she won last year with a new Inshore Monohull race record 4Hrs 27Mins 56Sec whilst in the multihull category, a number of contenders led by George Owens’ Mad Max look likely to mount a serious challenge for the Inshore Multihull race record.

The race is organised and hosted by Queensland Cruising Yacht Club and run in association with Southport Yacht Club.