NOR released for Sydney Gold Coast

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has announced the release of the Notice of Race for the 384 nautical mile Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race that will start on Sydney Harbour at 1.00pm, Saturday July 26.
 
The rivalry between super maxis Wild Oats XI and Perpetual LOYAL for line honours glory is set to take centre stage once again.

Neither boat has have raced since Hobart and owners and crews are looking forward to what this coastal race can bring, which is often very different from the Hobart race.

"We’ve made no major changes to the boat since Hobart, just some minor tweaks aimed at getting maximum performance,” Mark Richards, skipper of Wild Oats XI said. "We’re looking forward to whatever this race will throw at us."

It is also anticipated that 87-year-old Syd Fischer will bring his Elliott designed Ragamuffin 100 to the start to challenge the other big boats for line honours.

Last year Wild Thing took 2 days 1 hour 21 minutes and 14 seconds to complete the course, well outside the open record set by Wild Oats XI in 2012 of 22hrs, 3mins, 46secs and Loki’s record for conventional yachts of 26hrs, 52mins, 39secs.

Some of the 70-plus yachts expected to compete in the annual pilgrimage north include: Brindabella, the people’s maxi, owned by CYCA member Jim Cooney, which held the previous race record (27hrs, 35 mins, 43secs) for 13 years; Victoire, the overall winner of the 2013 Rolex Sydney Hobart and was announced the overall winner of the Gosford Lord Howe Island Yacht Race this week, Ichi Ban, Matt Allen’s Carkeek 60 and Southern Excellence II, Andrew Wenham’s Volvo 70.

Headlining the Queensland entries will be Peter Harburg’s Volvo 70 Black Jack, skippered by Mark Bradford.

"Everything came together nicely for us last year," Bradford recalled, after working with Harburg since purchasing the boat last year, to prepare Black Jack for Australian racing conditions.

"We had some strong competition from Giacomo in the Hobart race and the boat performed beautifully. It’s still early days in our campaign with this yacht. We’ll do the Brisbane to Gladstone, the Sydney Gold Coast, the Brisbane to Keppel and then get ready for another assault on the Rolex Sydney Hobart," Bradford said.

Alive, the former RP66 Black Jack, will return under new owner Tasmanian businessman Phillip Turner with the Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race her second major offshore outing after contesting the Brisbane to Gladstone race in April.

Now in its 29th edition, the race was first sailed in 1986, following the construction of the $40 million Gold Coast seaway, which opened the sheltered waters of Southport’s Broadwater and other coastal waterways to the open sea. The inaugural race attracted a fleet of 86 of Australia’s leading yachts, with Sydney identity Jack Rooklyn bringing his famous 80-footer Apollo out of retirement for the race.

The Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht takes the fleet from the Nielsen Park start line, down the Harbour and out through Sydney Heads, before turning left to head to the finish line off Main Beach at Southport, on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Entry can be completed online until 1700 hours on Friday July 11 by logging on to http://goldcoast.cyca.com.au/competitors/online-race-entry/

To view the Notice of Race log on to http://goldcoast.cyca.com.au/competitors/race-documents/