Getaway-Sailing fastest to Great Keppel Island
Sunday, August 5th, 2007
By Ian Grant
Getaway-Sailing won the inaugural Brisbane to Great Keppel Island yacht race line honours trophy when she completed the testing 348 n/ml coastal passage classic shortly after 1-18 am today ending a cold night at sea with a good reason to enjoy the warm welcome from an enthusiastic group of guests management and race officials
When Getaway-Sailing crossed the finish line off Monkey Point her crew completed a special entry in Australian offshore sailing history as the first to finish in a race which promises to become a major blue water event.
The 2001 Volvo Globe Race champion averaged 9.06 knots in what proved to be a testing offshore race sailed in winds which varied between 5 and 21 knots to finally finish 1 hour 30 seconds ahead of the smaller Bill Wild skippered Brisbane sloop Wedgetail while Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Vice Commodore Russell McCart helming Night Nurse filled third place another six hours astern.
Wedgetail further confirmed her ranking as Australia’s fastest 12.9m blue water racing yacht when she tracked the wake of the 18.5m Getaway-Sailing for the entire race eventually powering home in freshening winds to complete the final 98 n/mls with an average speed of 10.6 knots.
Skipper Bill Wild was impressed by the performance “I’m fortunate to have a very good crew who understand how to sail Wedgetail to her ultimate speed”.
“We used the race to try a number of recent modifications which worked very well” He Said.
Sailing Master Kevin Costin supported his skipper’s comments “All of the new chutes added another dimension to the speed performance of the boat she was always lively performer in moderate to fresh downwind sailing but that has now reached another level”.
“We had a good ride from Cape Capricorn peaking 17 knots in no more than 21 knots of breeze which had a very nice feel about it and confirmed that the sprit fixed spinnakers had produced the desired results” Costin said.
The performance of Wedgetail to beat the slightly smaller Farr 40 OD Night Nurse by 1.06 minutes per mile in the 348 n/ml race has allowed the Wedgetail crew including former World champion Vanessa Dudley to stake a strong claim on the overall handicap trophy when the results are officially announced after all of the fleet have either finished or run out of time to beat the popular Bill Wild and deny him the opportunity to win his first major ocean race trophy.
Results: Brisbane to Great Keppel Is Yacht Race Line Honours: Getaway-Sailing 38-38-15 1, Wedgetail 39-18-45 2, Night Nurse 44-26-12 3, Dream Lover 45-06-23 4, Quest 45-29-13 5, Cadi 47-00-16 6.