There were 23 starters in what was the second Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race, starting off Green Island in Moreton Bay at 11.00am, Saturday August 2.

The 348 nautical mile race this year ended just outside the Keppel Bay Marina, Rosslyn Bay just south of Yeppoon on the Capricorn Coast. As the inaugural race last year finished at Great Keppel Island, it is difficult to make any comparisons with last year’s results.

After a sunny start in light conditions, the first radio sked on Saturday evening revealed that Peter Harburg’s Black Jack was leading the fleet with Peter Goldsworthy’s Getaway-Sailing not far behind.

Standing off Noosa Heads around 11:30pm, the Radio Relay Vessel Kokoda reported a light 2.5 knot westerly breeze providing a slow run for the yachts. By 1.00am, Kokoda reported 9 knots and by the following morning, the range of the breeze extended up to 12 knots.

The early Sunday morning sked revealed that Black Jack was now off Lady Elliott Island and had 117 miles remaining to the finishing line.

A couple of mini races within the main race fleet were happening among the Farr 40s (Bribie Star, Night Nurse and Cracklin Rosie) and Beneteau 44.7’s (On Y Va, Ultimate Positioning and Alactrity). Ultimate Positioning reported having a blown spinnaker on Sunday morning.

During Sunday, America’s Cup sailor and skipper of Black Jack Mark Bradford said they had very light conditions of 4 to 6 knots from the east-northeast. Around the same time, Mike Freebairn’s Sprit of Koomooloo had reported sightings of dolphins and whales around Breaksea Spit off Sandy Cape, on the northern tip of Fraser Island.

By the Sunday evening sked, Black Jack had only 21 miles to the finish, while Getaway-Sailing had 76 miles and Bill Wild’s Wedgetail, another 91 miles remaining. Based on calculations at the time, either Bribie Star or Night Nurse were in a close tussle for fourth.

At 8.13pm Sunday night, Black Jack drifted over the finishing line under what was described as a “spectacular meteorite shower” over Keppel Bay, to take line honours.

According to the organisers of the race, "skipper Mark Bradford was extremely happy with the yacht and the crew he hand selected."

"We were pretty lucky with the wind but it does look like it had shut down for the night. We didn’t stop during the race at all which was great, especially when the breeze did die right off," said Bradford.

"As expected, Black Jack is a pedigree yacht and we are really happy with her performance and that of the crew. We gelled together with the senior guys encouraging the younger crew to get involved."

"This was our first race and already the crew is improving. We are a great team who just want to go sailing. I’d give this performance 7.5 out of ten!" continued Bradford.

Through the second night, a report came through about a small fire on Bruce McKay’s Wasabi, but it was sorted out quickly, the boat and crew were safe and making good time to the finish.

Also during the night, Greg Poole’s Piping Hot had withdrawn to Bundaberg with all onboard reported to be safe.

The following morning at 4.48am, last year’s inaugural line honours winner Getaway-Sailing was the second boat to cross the finishing line in Rosslyn Bay. Speaking with race organisers, owner Peter Goldsworthy said it was "another enjoyable Keppel race."

"We had our work cut out for us with Black Jack in the race, but it was great to see another larger yacht in the fleet" he continued.

"The crew made the decision to stay offshore for most of the race, trying to hold onto the breeze and the current. It was a bit light on at some points, and at one stage we did actually drift backwards! Totally different conditions from last years race when we finished in a 20 knot south westerly."

At 9.49am Monday, Kevin Miller and John Hassler’s Farr 40 Bribie Star was third over the finishing line, skippered by Peter Sherwood. Speaking with race organisers, Sherwood shared the owners response to their result.

"I have spoken to Kevin and he is stoked with our result. Kevin and John stood aside as crew last week due to work commitments but let us continue with the race which was awesome."

"We did this race with the same crew as the Brisbane to Gladstone in March this year. We really do race well together, but they all think that I’m the most useless one on board!" laughed Sherwood.