Golden Oldies in a class of their own !!

by Ian Grant on 20 Mar 2001 The proven Brisbane Gladstone racing logs compiled in tough times by the Gladstone sloop Wistari, and the small Brisbane yachts Saltash 11 and Scampi A have confirmed that a low budget campaign can win Queenslands major blue water classic.

Wistari built from plywood by her designer and skipper the late Noel Patrick to a 'shoe-string' budget including racing to the present day with a wardrobe of race weary sails has won the race four times and almost scored a major upset by winning overall last year.

The sloop often referred to as the 'Butter Box' by her proud creator was originally launched for her first race in 1965 before claiming a place in history with her overall race wins in 1971,1976, 1977 and 1982.

Remarkably Wistari now sailed by the former skipper's sons Scott and Ross Patrick remains very competitive under the modern IRC handicap measurement rule.

Last year she surfed home before fresh Sou 'east trade winds only to be denied another win when her archrival Scampi A added another win to her successes in 1984 and 1988.

Scampi A enjoyed the advantage of a lower handicap and longer use of the speed sailing winds to seal another triumph for the older yachts.

The little sloop originally created from a cold and dusty design loft in Sweden by Peter Norlin actually won the race in the final 83 miles when her crew of Michael McEniery, Ross Perrins, Colin Loel, Jim Graham and John Glenn reached two sail reaching speeds of 16.2knots.

This remarkable performance enabled Scampi A to put 'time in the bank' to finally beat Wistari by 37 minutes 52 seconds or 7.38 seconds per mile over the 308 nautical mile course.

However Wistari which will contest her 34 race this Easter still holds the distinction of recording the third fastest corrected time in history behind Saltash 11 (Ian and Bill Wright) 21-15-54 in 1993 and the IMS rated Outsider (Ross Perrins) 22-12-26 also in 1993.

There is little doubt that the new generation crew in Wistari will have their benchmark of 23-54-06 set in 1982 placed within vision of the tiller steered helming station when they apply the course strategy for this years race starting of Sandgate Pier at 1100 hours on Good Friday morning.