Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster Race: Tas sailors’ Westcoaster double
by Peter Campbell 31 Dec 2017 16:23 AEDT
Tristian Gourlay (left) and Jamie Cooper – off to Japan in Osaka race © Jamie Cooper
Tasmanian short-handed sailors Tristian Gourlay and Jamie Cooper have scored a double handicap win in the Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster Yacht Race which finished yesterday.
Their corrected time wins in the PHS and Two-Handed divisions of the 480 nautical mile race is a significant boost to their prospects in a much longer event – the 5,500 nautical mile race from Melbourne to Osaka in Japan which starts in March.
Both men originally are from Launceston but now live in Hobart, although Tristian remains a member of the Tamar Yacht Club. Sailing their Adams 11.9, Force Eleven, the two experienced sailors excelled in the hard running and reaching conditions of the final 24 hours around the bottom of Tasmania.
During the Westcoaster they steadily improved their position in the fleet, enjoying strong north-west and westerly winds on Thursday of 25-30 knots as they headed down the West Coast to pass Maatsuyker Island.
"Our peak speed was 18.1 knot and we were regularly getting 15 and 16 knots," Tristian said yesterday, the 38-year-old recalling that he bought Force Eleven when he was just 21. mThis is our first Osaka Race, but we have sailed double-handed in the Launceston to Hobart, in two Maria Island races plus previous Westcoasters."
Tristian comes from a family of long distance ocean sailors, his father Ken circumnavigating the world solo, non-stop in the fastest time by an Australian. Tristian and his then girlfriend sailed Force Eleven double-handed in the 2006 Melbourne to Vanuatu race, as did his father Ken and mother Wendy in their boat.
"This morning they came down in their boat and escorted us up the Derwent to the finish....which was rather nice," Tristian said.
"We finished in sixth place in fleet in this racing, beaten to Hobart by four fully-crewed boats and another two-hander, Lord Jiminy. We duelled with Lord Jiminy all the way up the Derwent early this morning, swapping the lead several times and I was told there was only 57 seconds apart as we crossed the line."
Line honours in the Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster went to Lawrence Ford's Spirit of Downunder which finished at 3.52am yesterday. The second, third and fourth boats, Jaffa, Bandit and Shimmer crossed the finish line off Battery Point just three seconds apart.
Provisional handicap placings have resulted in wins for Justin Brenan's Alien (AMS), Ashley Trebilcock's Bandit and for Force Eleven in the Two-handed and PHS divisions.