Fast Lane sailing catamarans poisted to challenge Race Record

by Ian Grant on 18 Apr 2003 Australia’s fastest offshore racing catamarans Flat Chat and Raw Nerve are set to begin a 308n/ml nip and tuck dogfight for the Brisbane to Gladstone Multihull class line honours title when the race starts on Moreton Bay at 11 am today.

The two radically different high speed twin hull yachts have an equal chance to win in record time and claim a special $2000 dollar ‘dash for cash’ bonus sponsored by Geoff Berg principal of All Yacht Spars.

Sure the money will be an incentive but both crews are more protective of the hard won reputations and are expected to remain on the spray drenched trampolines for the entire race to ensure they gain the best possible result.

Flat Chat has proved her speed in light winds and relatively flat seas by winning all of the major trophies last year while the larger and heavier Raw Nerve is more suited to racing in strong winds and rough seas.

The forecast of strong winds will favour Raw Nerve but the Flat Chat crew of Gold Coast sailors including skipper Jamie Morris, Roger Overell, Shane Dickson and Michael Kelly are well known to produce the best results when the odds are stacked against them.

Both yachts have never raced against each other before so there is no proven speed sailing benchmark.

However they are not expected to back off on the pace as they fly one hull in a boat on boat match race to win the first to finish title in Australia’s only official ocean race for multihulls.

Race officials in Gladstone are predicting a close finish with both crews expected to surf –sail the three meter ground swell to log a race average speed above 15knots and set a new race record.