| A light air start for Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel. |
| By Suellen Hurling , Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. |
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Photos by Suellen Hurling, edited By Peter Andrews. |
13:30 AEST Saturday August 1, 2009. |
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| The yachts racing in the 3rd Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race started the 348 nautical mile race under spinnaker, in just over 4 knots breeze from the south west. |
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Peter Harburg’s Reichel Pugh
66 Black Jack, ahead of Ray Roberts’ Evolution
Sails, just after the start of the Club Marine Brisbane
to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race 2009.
Photo © Suellen Hurling.
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| When the warning signal was made, the majority of the fleet aimed for a pin end start to ensure they captured the last of the morning westerly. John Moore’s On Y Va, Colin Loel’s Goa and David Moran’s Escape were all over the line at the 11:00am start and were required to battle with the tide and lack of wind to the return for a re-start. |
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A light spinnaker start on Morton Bay
for the Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht
Race 2009.
Photo © Suellen Hurling.
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| High profile entrants Peter Harburg’s Reichel Pugh 66 Black Jack, skippered by Mark Bradford, and Ray Roberts’ Evolution Sails managed to weave their way through the smaller boats and achieved a clean start when the gun fired. Evolution then sneaked ahead of Black Jack and claimed the clean air and an early lead. However, it wasn’t too long into the race when Black Jack took the lead over the Cookson 50 as they sailed off into the distance. |
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Onboard Michael Job's Sydney BH41 Southern Cross Yachting, after the start of the Club Marine Brisbane
to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race 2009.
Photo © Suellen Hurling.
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The yachts that chose to start at the pin end of the line have now made good distance and are heading out of Moreton Bay. However, those who picked the boat end of the starting line were totally becalmed, just minutes after the start.
Some of those who have their work cut for them to catch the fleet before night fall were Sweethart, Blunderbuss, Southern Cross Yachting, and Sanity Clause. |
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On the bow and bobbing around Morton
bay onboard Valerie Nullet's
Costin 30
Sanity Clause after the start of the Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race 2009.
Photo © Suellen Hurling.
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"This is going to be a very very long day," said Peter Elkington, one of the crew onboard Sanity Clause. "We may not make it out of the bay until tomorrow if the breeze doesn’t come in," added Elkington.
The current ETA for the first yacht to arrive at the finish at Keppel Bay is around 19:00 AEST, Sunday August 2. The first Radio Scheduling Report from yachts is at 15:05 AEST today.
For further information about the Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race, go to the official race website at: www.brisbanetokeppel.com. |
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| Outimage and Suellen Hurling © 2009 |
