CRUZ CONTROL CLAIMS LINE HONOURS

by Ian Grant on 27 Jan 2001 Memories of bailing with buckets in the Bass Strait were erased when Maynard Smith's Cruz Control sealed another important ocean race win off the Sunshine Coast before dawn today.

Skipper Smith and crew survivors of a mid race crisis in the recent Telstra Sydney-Hobart race when they were forced to hove to, repair an anchor well leak and bail for over two hours enjoyed an incident free win in annual Brisbane-Mooloolaba race overnight.

Wind and sea conditions were warm and relatively calm compared with the wild slog against the cold sou' westerly gales which they overcame to score Queensland's first ever class line honours and handicap win in the Hobart race.

Cruz Control proved her line honours favouritism when skipper Maynard Smith and the crew led by the highly experienced Kingsley Piesse claimed the Powerdive International line honours trophy with an elapsed course time of 8hours 18minutes 30 seconds.

As expected the time was not fast however it was impressive considering the fluctuations in the wind direction and velocity.

However Cruz Control still managed to produce her marginal edge in speed to complete the 56 nautical mile course 12 minutes 10 seconds faster than the smaller Brisbane sloop Ocean Designs (Stephen Bean) with another 17 minutes 26 seconds to Rob Noble in the Mumm 36 Sea.

While all three crews sailed to their potential the consistent Farr 11.6m Dancing Lady skippered by Rob Pennell eventually upstaged them on corrected time.

Dancing Lady completed the course with a time of 9hours 35minutes 23seconds, which enabled her to protect her rating, and record a popular IRC class win on handicap from Ocean Designs and Sea.

Skipper Pennell and his Dancing Lady crew hope to retain this form when they contest the XXXX Sunshine Coast Offshore championship of Mooloolaba tomorrow and Sunday.