Latitude 28 by Ian Grant - Black Jack – Peter Harburg’s super fast pocket-maxi.

Gladstone – bring on the breeze

Brisbane Gladstone Ocean racing crews will continue to monitor the active monsoon season as they continue with the countdown to the 2010 race start at 11am on Good Friday 2 April.
Eight weeks may seen a long time for the average social sailor but that is not the case for the blue-water racing skippers who are already looking at and monitoring the weather while they check the hull sails and rigging for their respective challenges to be ship-shape on race day.
There was plenty of grunt in the trade wind on Tuesday, 2 February when a peak gust of 47 knots tested the bearing endurance in the wind speed instruments at the Double Island Point Lighthouse.
The Easterly gale associated with a huge ground swell reached well beyond being fresh and frightening, in fact it was survival, and hopefully there will not be a repeat when the fleet exits Moreton Bay via the Caloundra Fairway Buoy on Good Friday afternoon.
A forecast of a true 20-25 knot South East breeze and moderate easterly swell would be perfect to allow the fleet to test the cloth strength in the spinnakers and the anti-broaching skills of the helmsperson during a fast wave riding sail over the 308nm course while the line honours leaders build a challenge to eclipse the 20 hour 24 minute 50 second record set by Grant Wharrington’s Skandia Wild Thing in 2004.
To achieve this they will need to surf-sail in the fast lane and target a finish time before 7:24:50am on Easter Saturday with an average speed above 15.08 knots.
Peter Harburg’s super fast pocket-maxi Black Jack skippered by Mark Bradford will defend her 2009 line honours title, while former record holder and four time line honours champion Sean Langman of Sydney promises to return with the impressive New Zealand super maxi Investec Loyal.
Langman who previously skippered the smaller ‘skiff on steroids’ Grundig Zena to surrender his race record by the narrow margin of 11mins 58secs to Skandia in 2004 has notified Race Director Herb Prendergast of his intention to compete.
An advantage of 10 metres in waterline length coupled with a massive sail area and the race experience of Sean Langman at the helm favours the canting-keeled Investec Loyal to set the pace.
However, both Langman and crew can expect a strong speed sailing challenge from Black Jack which presently holds an undefeated record in Queensland’s major coastal passage races.
As to be expected Sean Langman has too much respect to cast the Black Jack challenge aside because he has the firsthand experience and understanding that a well-sailed smaller yacht can always be a threat as proved when his 20m pocket rocket Grundig Zena just lost her 308nm tactical dogfight to the 30m Skandia Wild Thing by under 12 minutes in 2004.

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Archer on target

Whitsunday Sailing Club flag officer Terry Archer promises to post some impressive results when he comes to grips with steering and racing in the faster lane with his recently acquired Sydney 40 Questionable Logic.
Previously, skipper Terry Archer and crew enjoyed the comfort of sailing in the slower lane with the cruising class sloop Africa and achieved a number of commendable performances in a varied range of conditions.
The Sydney 40 has a proven pedigree having been jointly designed by Iain Murray, Ian Burns and Andy Dovell and built by Bashford Yachts which provides her proud new owner with the speed potential to become the pacesetter in Whitsunday Sailing Club offshore events.
Her clash against the almost identical Sydney 41 Re-ignition winner of the 2008 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week Performance handicap series will provide the Questionable Logic crew with the ideal speed sailing ‘benchmark’ as they tweak the required strings to race the sloop to her potential.
Re-ignition’s co-owners and joint skippers Charles Wallis and Seddon Cripps are very friendly onshore but they assume the role of being exceptionally tough when they depart from the dock.
They also have the long term experience of racing Re-ignition in various conditions from glassy calms to flesh and fabric tormenting strong wind warnings, which suggests they will hold the upper hand when both crews commence their duel for the important club championship and the best local boat result in the 2010 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week series in mid-August.
Meanwhile Terry Archer and crew have already proved they are more than capable of selecting the right tactical options as previously demonstrated on the deck of the slower Africa.
However, that experience will have little reward should they fail to lift their game into another time frame to suit the demanding challenge of sailing Questionable Logic in the fast lane.
The Sydney 40 has a reputation to reward a smart thinking crew; but they can also plunge into a nerve testing wipe-out-style broach if there is any lapse of concentration in moderate to fresh winds.
They are not unlike any other high performance racing yacht where the combination of skipper, tactician and crew need to endure the hard yards on the water to completely understand how to consistently apply the required human elements to sail a fast sloop in the fast lane.
Every short course race on Pioneer Bay this month will provide Terry Archer and the Questionable Logic crew with the several important opportunities to erase any personal doubts about improving their handicap rated boat speed in preparation to contest the 2010 Home Hardware Whitsunday Ocean Racing championship as the final evaluation trial before lining up to be on the pace for the 2010 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week in mid-August.

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Britannia claims Aussie Gold

Mooloolaba Yacht Club’s 2009 Audi Australian Ocean racing champion Rod Jones re-addressed his one-design sailing skills to win the Bronze medal in the Victorian SB3 Dart championship on Australia Day.
Jones who recently sold his Audi National champion the Archambault A40 Alegria made an eleventh hour decision to test his proven tactical racing skills in the championship with the option to race in the Audi SB3 Australian championship at Port Stephens from April 12-18.
The National championship already regarded as the feature event in the Sail Port Stephens Race Week promises to attract an international standard fleet including top English skipper Jono Shelley who steered Credo-Group.com to a convincing victory in the William Angliss Victorian championship over the Royal Geelong Yacht Club courses on Corio Bay.
Shelley a specialist one-design racing helmsman presently working in New Zealand had raced on Corio Bay before but was not happy with his result.
The smiling ‘Pom’ was much happier on Australia Day when he and his English husband and wife crew mates Chris and Clare Molloy enjoyed their escape from the harsh northern hemisphere winter to express their talent with an impressive six point win over Tasmanian Andrew Crisp while Rod Jones helmed Club Marine Blue into third overall 13 points ahead of OceanBuro business partner Kai Timm of Noosa in Club Marine White.
Kai Timm set the pace early winning the opening race by a comfortable 59 seconds from Rod Jones while Jono Shelley claimed the important third place points by a narrow 12 seconds from Andrew Crisp.
Both Shelley and Crisp then became embroiled in a boat on boat match race where the Tasmanian Crisp showed he was no pushover with his personal determination allowing him to overcome his maiden SB3 fleet racing challenge to eventually finish with the Silver Medal.
Crisp will certainly be among the pace setters at Port Stephens and is expected to gain further important fleet racing experience when the high standard fleet compete for title honours during the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta this month.
This series raced over the Middle Harbour Yacht Club courses will be the final evaluation trial before the tactical ‘dog fight’ begins at Port Stephens.
Meanwhile Rod Jones presently waiting the delivery of an exciting new blue water IRC class racing yacht from Spain will keep refining his skills with SB3 class racing.
His score at Geelong suggests he is not far off the pace to become a major medal contender at Port Stephens.
But every new SB3 championship has a history of presenting different results within the format of high pressure one-design racing, and both Rod Jones and Kia Timm are well aware that they need to limit the mistakes in tactics and technique to justify the respect from their rivals when the battle lines for the war on the water are drawn on the ideal courses at Port Stephens  in April.