Forecast in place for Brisbane to Gladstone record chase

by Ian Grant on 6 Apr 2012 Grant Wharington’s super maxi ocean racer Wild Thing has the perfect moderate to strong wind forecast to enter a ‘grudge match’ to protect her Qantaslink Brisbane to Gladstone Race record over the Easter Weekend.

Eight years ago racing in a similar trade wind forecast, the 30 m Wild Thing expressed her remarkable boat speed to set the existing record of 20 hours 40 minutes 50 seconds.

However the Wild Thing crew will face a formidable opponent with the Peter Millard skippered Sydney super maxi Lahana also poised to defend the line honours trophy won a year ago.

The duel between the two high performance ocean racing combinations promises to turn into a 308n/ml match race when the start signal is fired at 11 am this morning.

Understandably both skippers and tacticians are keeping their race strategy a secret after they enter the important open ocean via the Caloundra Fairway Buoy later today.

As expected the leader out of Moreton Bay will have the upper hand and the Wild Thing crew could be hard pressed to lead Lahana as their deeper draft will restrict their tactical options during the initial 42 nautical miles of racing though the shallow waters

But it will be game on when the match racing maxi’s sail into the fresher winds presently blowing offshore.

A spinnaker sailing trade wind which gusted to 22 knots at Double Island Point earlier this morning is expected to continue to blow up to 25 knots later today.

This is a perfect velocity to propel the big boats at the required record challenging speed to reach the finish off Gladstone’s Auckland Creek before the record time expires 7-40-50 am tomorrow.

While this forecast will allow Wild Thing and Lahana to set a crackling pace they are not expected to sail above the required handicap rating to beat the impressive group of smaller yachts including the Royal Geelong Yacht Club TP52 Shogun V (Robert Hanna) the Roland Dane skippered Jessandra 11 and the eight time race winner Saltash ll jointly skippered by father and son Peter and Sandy Cavill.