Catamaran skipper claims career best result

by Ian Grant on 20 Apr 2003 Richard Jenkins presented a grin equal to that of a Cheshire Cat when he steered his comfortable cruising catamaran The Cats Whiskers to win the Multihull Brisbane to Gladstone race.

Skipper Jenkins has valued an extensive cruise to understand the racing performance of his yacht which out sailed the fastest Multihulls in Australia to win.

Cats Whiskers hardly rated as a chance up against the high quality fleet showed a turn of unmatched speed to seal the fastest corrected handicap despite finishing almost 11 hours behind the line honours winner Flat Chat.

Jamie Morris winner of the 2002 race trophy seemed poised to win again when his high standard crew of Southport Yacht Club sailors Roger Overell, Michael Kelly and the father and son team of John and Shane Dickson completed the race with an exceptionally fast 13.9knot average.

Morris was impressed with his record sixth line honors trophy win with his fastest Gladstone race time but Flat Chat still finished 1 hour 40 minutes 27 seconds outside the 20 hour 35 minute 2 second race record set by the New Caledonian catamaran Rogntudjuuu in 2001.

Morris said “We gave it our best shot hitting a peak of 23.1 knots but it was difficult to play catch up after the slow below 8 knot passage on the first 42 n/mls to clear Moreton Island”.

Flat Chat left a white wake when she powered to her outstanding line honours win to beat the larger Victorian catamaran Raw Nerve (Martyn Riley) but the time was not enough to win the race outright.

Final Results: Multihull Yacht Club of Queensland 40th Brisbane to Gladstone race IOMR Hcp: Cats Whiskers (R Jenkins) 1, Flat Chat (J Morris) 2, Spellbound (G Toomey) 3. Fastest: Flat Chat course time 22-15-29