A beautiful morning at sea

The 34 competing boats in the fourth Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race are enjoying a perfect morning at sea after a great night of southerly breeze.

Rod Jones and his Alegria IV crew reported a top speed of 19.6 knots in 20 knots of breeze.

“It was a beautiful clear night absolutely perfect sailing,” said Jones.

Lahana is still in the lead ahead of the Mark Richards skippered Wild Oats X and the two boats were having a good tussle up the tropical Queensland coast.

Although he resides in Sydney, Lahana owner Peter Millard said he was a Queenslander through and through and is pleased to be representing Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in this years race.

As day broke this morning Wedgetail reported that they were surrounded by whales.

“There are so many out here! Let’s just hope they stay clear of us,” said Wedgetail crew member Peter Elkington.

Ken Down’s Farr 40 Bribie Star also encounted whales this morning.

“We had to make a major detour when one popped up right in front of us!” said Down.

“It’s just perfect out here off Indian Head. We’re in a tight battle with Robbo (Cracklin Rosie), Slimy (e11even) and Tubby (Lambourdini). Game on moles!” said Lucas Down.

The feirce rivalrey between the Mumm 36′s Georgia Express (Andrew Knights) and Corum (Geoff & Todd Anderson) continued through the night with Georiga Express edging ahead of their opponent.

A fan of Georgia Express posted a screen shot of the yacht tracker onto the Brisbane to Keppel Facebook page just in case the lead changed.

The Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race stared at 1500 hours on Friday 6 August and the first boats are expected to arrive at the finish line before 1700 hours.

More to come.

Race Website: http://www.brisbanetokeppel.com
Tracker: http://www.brisbanetokeppel.com/yacht-tracker/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/brisbane2keppel/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brisbanetokeppel.com/
SMS Registration: http://www.brisbanetokeppel.com/sms

The Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race is part of Queensland Tourism’s Season of Sailing calendar and is proudly sponsored by O’Reilly’s Real Estate, Angove Wines, Morgan’s Seafood, Capricorn Tourism, Rockhampton Regional Council and of course Club Marine.

The race is hosted by Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron with the support of Keppel Bay Marina, Keppel Bay Sailing Club, Yeppon Coast Guard and Bundaberg VMR.