By Ian Grant.
Peter Millard and John Honan were compensated for the loss of their Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel race record when Lahana was named as the provisional winner on IRC handicap today.
Lahana the former New Zealand Maxi of many names including Zana and Konica Minolta when owned by Stewart Thwaites surrendered her 2010 record breaking line honours win to the more modern super maxi Wild Oats X1 on Saturday.
Both Peter Millard and John Honan who celebrated winning the 308 nautical mile Qantas Brisbane to Gladstone race line honours over the Easter weekend understood their 348 n/ml Brisbane to Keppel Race record was under a serious threat from the more modern Wild Oats X1.
But they never gave up hope of sailing Lahana to her IRC rating when Wild Oats X1 set the race handicap clock ticking after she crossed the finish line off the Rosslyn Bay Marina at 12-22-20 on Saturday afternoon.
The crew of big boat sailors including Carl Crafoord, Tony Hearder, Bob Fraser and Mark D’Emilio made sure the ‘think tank’ in the back end of Lahana remained in a strong position to save her 1.6830 rating against Wild Oats X1.
As to be expected it was a tough assignment however the Lahana crew became the new provisional corrected time leader when they completed the course just over 3 hours astern of Wild Oats X1.
Lahana and Wild Oats X1 firmed as a strong chance to convert their provisional places into a reality when the breeze became fickle and shifty during the dusk to dawn hours to deny any of the smaller yachts the chance to generate the required boat speed to upset Lahana’s deserved victory celebrations today.
This was a fitting reward for the Lahana crew who were forced to experience watching Wild Oats X1 sail away with their record but capped a smartly sailed 348 nautical miles to have a crucial 1 hour 4 minutes or 11.04 seconds per nautical mile faster corrected handicap to win the major Club Marine trophy ahead of Wild Oats X1 and the Stewart Lewis steered Marten 49 cruiser racer Ocean Affinity.