Quantum Racing wins the Brisbane to Gladstone race

CYCA the top team

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia the nation’s premier ocean yacht racing club added further trophies to their impressive mantelpiece over the Easter weekend.

Senior Flag Officer Commodore Matt Allen steered the super fast Volvo 70 Ichi Ban to another line honours win in the 60th Brisbane to Gladstone race winning the Gladstone Pacific Nickel trophy with an elapsed course time of 23 hours 34 minutes 10 seconds.

This was another quality performance by the Ichi Ban crew who completed the course with a surprisingly fast 13.07 knot average despite a slow 42 n/ml passage out of Moreton Bay.

Ichi Ban picked up the pace on the 250 n/ml open ocean leg between Caloundra and Gladstone Harbour reaching a peak speed of 17 knots during the brief and breezy local squalls to claim successive line honours trophies.

She set the IRC race clock ticking by posting the 37 hour 44 minute 5 second time factor for the fleet to beat.

That time was set at another level when Ray Roberts and his Quantum Racing crew intent on improving their 2007 performance blew Ichi Ban away when they reset the time factor at 35-08-44.

Skipper Ray Roberts displayed and element of confidence when he enjoyed the post race debrief with tactician Steve McConaghy, Richard Hudson and Gary Adshead.

His modesty was rewarded with the Farr/Cookson canting keel 50 setting the IRC handicap rated pace which her major rivals including the 8 time race winner Saltash II failed to match.

Quantum Racing which averaged an impressive 11.76 knots was simply sailed to fast and smart which allowed her proud owner to have his name engraved on the historical 60yr Courier Mail Cup for the second time.

His last win in 1995 with Millenium still remains a cherished memory and is one of the reasons why the Ray Roberts racing team support the iconic Queensland blue water classic.

Quantum Racing beat an impressive fleet including Bill Wild’s Hugh Welbourne designed 42 Wedgetail and the Graeme Wood skippered TP52 Wot Yot.

This result combined with the line honours trophy defence by Ichi Ban allowed the CYCA team of Quantum Racing Wot Yot and Ichi Ban to win the Federation Cup teams trophy by a wide margin.

Renaissance wins Multihull Trophy

Ross Perrins has made a successful transition from a Brisbane-Gladstone race monohull champion to dominating the Multihull Yacht Club of Queensland Brisbane Gladstone race honour board.

The talented and experienced offshore racing skipper who previously won the prestigious Courier Mail Cup on three occasions with the Peter Norlin designed IOR Half Tonne champion Scampi A added another Gladstone Race trophy to his impressive ocean racing career over the Easter weekend.

Perrins who jokingly said “I only own one of the two hulls and that’s the one with the fridge” showed the value of a happy and successful catamaran racing partnership with his good mate Mike Hodges when the very comfortable Jeff Schionning designed cruising catamaran Renaissance won the Brisbane to Gladstone race.

The physically tough races spent in the spray drenched cockpit of Scampi A became a distant memory when co skippers Ross Perrins and Mike Hodges protected from the speed sailing spray steered Renaissance to another popular corrected handicap win.

Their victory hung in the balance after Renaissance completed the course in 28 hours 48 minutes to record 10.69 knot average while race officials considered an application for redress from skipper Rob Remilton (Wilparina ll) for the role his crew played in the rescue of the four sailors from the capsized catamaran APC Max.

The George Owen skippered APC Max was duelling for the lead with Martyn Riley’s Raw to the Core when she came to grief off Waddy Point around 11-30 on Good Friday night.

Skipper Rob Remilton’s crew stowed the spinnaker and temporarily withdrew Wilparina II from racing to conduct a search and rescue mission for their unfortunate racing mates.

They executed excellent seamanship finding the inverted APC Max in 55 minutes before spending a further 36 minutes getting their mates safely onboard before they resumed racing.

Wilparina II was noticeably a lot slower with the extra crew weight as she tracked past Lady Elliot Island then onto the finish completing the course in second place behind Raw to the Core with a race average of 12.32 knots.

After the Wilparina II redress was considered the Renaissance crew was officially declared the winner with a corrected time of 22-39-56, 33 minutes 56 seconds ahead of Wilparina II with Mark Wilson’s Viento another 9 seconds astern third.

More information at www.brisbanetogladstone.com.au