Sailing master Brett Young proved he was on an important mission when he escaped from the cold climate of the South Australian winter to compete in the 2009 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week last August.
The experienced blue water sailor had the principal task to fine tune a new Bruce Farr designed Beneteau First 40 in the pleasant tropical winter environment with yacht racing in the Whitsunday Islands.
It was very much a fact finding mission for Brett Young when the sails were tensioned for the first time and the expectations remained positive when he skippered Ford Prefect to a 4-7-5 result against serious opposition including the 2008 champion Evolution Sails (Ray Roberts) and the eventual 2009 IRC champion Living Doll (Michael Hiatt).
However the Ford Prefect crew had ‘kick started’ a promising campaign gaining a progressive improvement in boat speed on Pioneer Bay before heading across the Whitsunday Passage to continue with the tuning process in the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
Her sail number YC 400 progressively came under surveillance attracting the tactical attention of the eventual 2009 Audi Australian IRC class champion Rod Jones and his master tactician Adrian Finglas when the new South Australian sloop defeated Queensland’s Alegria by 5 seconds to record her first win in the log book.
They also fought a nip-n-tuck duel to win race seven by 10 seconds when the ‘luck of the Irish’ failed to smile on the Tony Donnellan skippered Victorian sloop Shamrock.
A second to Alegria in the final race added a bonus to the regatta campaign when owner Andrew Saies and Brett Young prepared Two True Evolution for the toughest race of all over the 628 n/ml Rolex Sydney Hobart course.
This course is well noted for leaving the best intentions and preparations wallowing in the wind however her crew racing under the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia burgee remained keen to add value to their yacht tuning program in the Whitsunday Islands.
Her 1000 nautical mile delivery trip from Adelaide to Sydney remained as ‘work in progress’ but after a gruelling 3 days 23 hours 49 minutes and 3 seconds of sailing against a mixed bag of weather including drifting in a calm the Two True crew outsailed the international standard fleet to become the 64th winner of the prestigious Tattersall’s Cup regarded as the World’s best ocean yacht racing trophy.
Owner skipper Andrew Saies proudly accepted the trophy and acknowledged the performance and dedication of his crew.
“This was a team effort we had some moments of luck and others drifting astern with the current”. He said.
But their real moment of celebration came when fellow rival Matt Allen Commodore of The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia officially declared Two True as the outright 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart champion with her 41 minute 25 second and 3.97 second per nautical mile corrected handicap advantage over the Mark Welsh helmed Wicked and the Ian Mason skippered Next.
Andrew Saies is yet to confirm however Two True now has the proven form guide to be a strong contender for the 2010 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week next August to cap off a successful campaign which began on the Whitsunday Sailing Club courses a little over four months ago.