By Ian Grant.
The impressive Rod Jones owned and skippered Welbourne 50 Audi Centre Sunshine Coast-Alegria V promises to attract a wave of support from members of the Maroochy River Sailing club over the Easter weekend.
Both skipper Rod Jones and his dual Audi Australian championship winning crew have expressed their loyalty to create history for the popular Sunshine Coast dinghy club as their first official entry in the 64th Qantas-Link Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race.
Their previous ocean race results suggest the Alegria V crew are formidable challengers with the recently remodelled former Brisbane to Gladstone line honours winner and Hamilton Island Race Week champion Heaven Can Wait.
But this annual 308 nautical mile blue water classic hosted by the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club and starting from Brisbane’s Bramble Bay on Good Friday April 6th officially sets the bench-mark for the talented crew of Sunshine Coast sailors who will begin an intense program of ocean racing including flying the prestigious Maroochy Sailing Club burgee in the Rolex Sydney Hobart.
Meanwhile the crew including skipper Rod Jones, navigator James Walker, Greg McAllansmith. Kia Timm and Noosa River Blazer 23 champion Chris Annear will tackle a challenging learning curve on the deck of Oxygen racing team’s flagship Alegria V.
However while they have already proved their talent as the only crew to have won two Audi Australian ocean racing championships in the trophy this new challenge on a tried and tested larger and older ocean racing sloop represents a supreme test of their off shore sailing experience.
Rod Jones has completed the first stage of modifications and is happy with the result from the evaluation trials.
A result which will be put to the test when the new-look Heaven Can Wait tests the power of her new sails to eclipse her 2005 line honours winning time of 39 hours 14 minutes 13 seconds.
As expected skipper Rod Jones and Greg McAllansmith who crewed with World champion Hamilton Island skipper Glenn Bourke to win the SB3 Dart sports boat Australian championship on the River Derwent in late February remain mentally and physically prepared for what promises to become an absorbing match race for the honour of winning the 64 year old The Courier Mail Cup.
But how this result will relate to the required boat speed performance of the Sunshine Coast crew remains to be proven against a high performance fleet over the Easter weekend.
Unfortunately Marcus Blackmore and his Hooligan crew winners in 2011 will not be defending their title however the return of 8 times race winner Saltash ll which will be helmed by Sandy Cavill and the entry of Robert Hanna’s speed sailing Royal Geelong Yacht Club sloop Shogun V promise to set a high standard of tactical racing over what is regarded among Australia’s more demanding coastal passage races.
Shogun V a sister class to the 2011 champion Hooligan has the pedigree and performance to be listed as the pre-race favourite with Audi Centre Sunshine Coast Alegria V and Saltash ll also favoured.
Barry Cuneo (Left) and Howard Lambourne
By Ian Grant.
Howard Lambourne and Barry Cuneo highly respected members of the Moreton Bay yachting fraternity have combined their resources in a lone and adventurous challenge to represent Queensland at the Australian Farr 40 championship in Sydney this weekend.
Their challenger Lambourdini/Skreenkraft owned by Howard Lambourne and sponsored by Barry Cuneo under the internationally renowned Envy freestyle scooter banner and raced on a ‘shoestring’ budget with second hand sails is as expected rated as a remote chance by their competitors from south of the Queensland border.
“Sure in summary we represent an ambitious challenge however you don’t know if you don’t have a go”.
“We have managed to set the pace in class racing on Moreton Bay and the trip to Sydney while being a serious match racing challenge is all about finding out where we sit nationally”. Howard Lambourne said.
The crew who are nominated for the Qantas-link Brisbane-Gladstone race starting on Good Friday April 6th and the first Queensland entry in the highly competitive one-design class championship have the potential and experience to create a surprise when the sails are tensioned for the important 2 day regatta.
For commercial sea going Captain Barry Cuneo this will be a welcome return to competitive yachting after showing enormous promise as a teenage skipper on the Brisbane River.
Being the youngest son of Australian 16ft skiff champion Tom and the nephew of 1972 Munich Olympic Dragon class Gold Medallist John Cuneo presented a tough act for Barry Cuneo to follow.
Naturally there were family discussions regarding an Olympic campaign in the 470 class when the time came for the younger Cuneo to decide his future.
Thankfully he accepted the respected advice from father Tom to ‘go to sea’ with the promise to eventually build a career in the commercial shipping industry.
He first joined the Australian National Line in 1980 as a cadet officer operating a tanker shipping service to Australian ports.
Then after a dedicated personal commitment he became the youngest captain to man the bridge of an Australian registered ship in 1993.
With those credentials registered in his personal resume the Brisbane born master mariner then claimed the international distinction of being the youngest master of world voyaging super tanker when he occupied the captain’s cabin on the French owned 340m 300,000 tonne New Wisdom.
Presently Barry Cuneo who has always regarded Brisbane as his home port is contracted as a senior shipping pilot in Melbourne while retaining a strong bond with Howard Lambourne and his son Brisbane yacht rigging expert David.
Both Barry Cuneo and David Lambourne along with their long term sailing mate Scott Miller ‘twisted the arm’ of Howard Lambourne who after a short discussion was excited to be involved with the joint venture.
“We are not kidding ourselves; the racing against the best on their own waters will provide us with the important benchmark on where we rate nationally”. Veteran Howard Lambourne said.
Footnote. Envy Scooters/Lambourdini will also contest the Middle Harbour Yacht Club Sydney Harbour regatta on March 10-11 then face a return delivery voyage to contest the Brisbane-Gladstone race with Barry Cuneo as the navigator on Good Friday April 6th.
By Ian Grant.
Talented Whitsunday Sailing Club teenagers Klaus Lorenz and Ollie Annear have a master plan in place to improve their Australian ranking in the International 420 class this weekend.
On Friday they will pack their sails and leave the warm Pioneer Bay sailing environment off Airlie Beach to compete against a strong fleet in the 2012 New South Wales championship on the unfamiliar Georges River course.
They will be racing against some familiar faces who they met during the recent Australian championship regatta on Brisbane’s Moreton Bay.
Competing in the New South Wales title is another step forward for skipper Klaus Lorenz who first became recognised for his dedication to focus his career a beyond being recognised as top club sailor to representing Australia in the Optimist class.
Both he and his school mate Ollie Annear have continued to improve their boat handling skills with extensive training sessions on the warm waters of Pioneer Bay and while they are confident with their collective skill it will be put to the test on the tactically demanding Georges River course this weekend.
Every second of their training program has been applied to improving their crewing combination and developing the important skills of completing the spinnaker sets, gybes and drops with a fast and efficient technique.
However while they are happy with their individual progress of training alone the talented team from the Whitsunday Sailing Club can expect to be presented with a supreme challenge when they tension their against their more experienced crews during the New South Wales championship.
This represents another important example of the support and encouragement which the Whitsunday Sailing Club has invested in their squad of junior sailors.
While Klaus Lorenz and Ollie Annear are regarded as the leading members of the squad their Optimist team led by female skipper and Australian representative Eva Lorenz will line up to contest the Queensland championship on Brisbane’s Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron courses during the May Labour Day holiday weekend.
Meanwhile Eva Lorenz now coached by her proud older brother Klaus promises to be mentally and physically prepared to contest the New Zealand Nationals next month as the Whitsunday Sailing Club officials prepare to host the multiclass regatta over the Easter weekend.
Fresh from his victory in the SB3 class Australian Championship in Hobart last weekend, Olympian and multi-world championship winning sailor, Glenn Bourke, now has his sights set on the SB3 Queensland Championship at XXXX Sail Paradise, on the Gold Coast next month.
However, in order to win this title he will have to beat a highly competitive fleet, including another Queenslander, Phillip Gray, who sailed Dulon Polish to a very close second behind Bourke’s Club Marine Hamilton Island in the nationals.
Bourke’s remarkable sailing career has had many highlights, including being the Sailing Venue and Competition Manager for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. It was recognised as the best ever Olympic yachting regatta. As a competitive sailor he has won seven world sailing championships and he also represented Australia in the 1992 Olympics. He has sailed in the America’s Cup and Admiral’s Cup and was twice named Australian Yachtsman of the Year.
XXXX Sail Paradise will be staged by Southport Yacht Club from March 21 to 25 along the shoreline of the Gold Coast’s magnificent surf beaches. The course area is considered to be among the best sailing waters in Australia.
After experiencing cold conditions in Hobart the SB3 sailors are keen to head north. One of Bourke’s crew, Rod Jones, who is the man propelling the SB3 class in Australia said, ‘I can’t wait to be sailing on warm water. It was pretty cold in Hobart.’
Jones said a number of interstate SB3 sailors, like Victorian Mark Wolfenden out of Sandringham Yacht Club, would be competing at Sail Paradise. Wolfenden will be keen to improve on his fifth placing in Hobart.
‘We are really looking forward to Sail Paradise,’ said Jones, ‘because the sailing there is so good. The beaches absorb the motion of the waves, so the swells are generally smooth, and the winds are almost always steady in direction.’
XXXX Sail Paradise is open to a wide range of classes: IRC, PHS racing and cruising monohulls, sportboats, trailables and multihulls.
Sail Paradise has many special attributes: it is a regatta where sailors experience outstanding racing along the Gold Coast’s impressive shoreline while their families and friends can enjoy all the exceptional holiday features the Coast has to offer – like the famous beaches, the Broadwater and hinterland, plus the numerous world-class theme parks.
XXXX Sail Paradise has as associate sponsors Gold Coast Tourism, Gold Coast City Council and Club Marine.
For more information on XXXX Sail Paradise go to the regatta website, www.sailparadise.com.au or contact Bronwen Ince at Southport Yacht Club: (07) 5591 3500.
Image caption:
The SB3 sportboats will be turning on some high performance sailing at the Gold Coast’s XXXX Sail Paradise 2012 next month (Image: Ciaran Handy, Hamilton Island)
Released: February 23, 2012
By Ian Grant.
Hamilton Island’s Glenn Bourke and Sunshine Coast sailors Rod Jones and Greg McAllansmith survived on their tactical instincts to win the Australian SB3 Sports Boat championship on the River Derwent last Monday.
The exceptionally talented crew of one-design sailors, manning the deck of Club Marine Hamilton Island had previously won the Queensland and Victorian championships by convincing margins but were forced to come from behind in the 9th and final race to snatch the trophy from the grip of Mooloolaba skipper Phil Gray helming Dulon Polish by a slender one point-one place margin.
Glenn Bourke regarded among Australia’s most successful One-design class racing tacticians and the winner of three World Laser championships only won one of the 9 races but skilfully managed to protect his reputation with a final race third while the Phil Gray’s Dulon Polish crew of South Australian’s Jordan Spencer and Robin Deussen finished fifth.
This result ultimately proved the difference between the two crews leaving Phil Gray pondering over the result after the Dulon Polish crew failed to finish race five with a broken boom.
However after sailing smart in fickle winds earlier in the championship Dulon Polish held the upper hand as the championship leader when the sails were tensioned for the championship decider.
Thankfully the fickle breeze was replaced by a moderate to fresh southerly on the final day which peaked with a 27knot gust from the South-South West to provide ideal conditions for the exciting SB3 to express their exciting all angle sailing speed.
While the windswept River Derwent presented all 21 crews with a supreme sailing test in the strongest breeze of the 9 race series the crew in Club Marine Hamilton Island remained totally focused on presenting the required tactics and technique to win the match race over Dulon Polish.
Both crews had revelled in the stronger breeze with Dulon Polish tactically placed to protect their title win when the sails were tensioned for the final slog against the gusty wind and the thrilling spinnaker run to the finish.
These critical tensioned packed legs of the race ultimately proved the difference between Club Marine Hamilton Island and Dulon Polish.
“They (Dulon Polish) were right with us on the final beat to windward but another boat got ahead of them and held them back to fifth place on the run to the finish while we finished third”. Glenn Bourke said.
The overall result while being decided by the narrow single point was a reward for sailing consistent in a mixed range of conditions from frustrating drifters to a hard hiking brute breeze on the final day where the Club Marine Hamilton Island trio of skipper Glenn Bourke relied on the talent of Rod Jones and Greg McAllansmith to finish with the impressive 3-3-2-2-8-2-1-3 24 points while Dulon Polish recorded 4-4-1-3-1-4-3-5 25 points.
Local skipper Nick Rogers who like Phil Gray also won two races helmed Toll Shipping to win the bronze medal with a 1-13-6-10-4-3-8-1 46 point score.
By Ian Grant.
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia ocean racing skipper Bernie van’t Hoff has temporarily changed the mooring address for his Swan 45 Tulip.
During last winter the friendly sailor who enjoys the relaxing time spent at the helm of Tulip headed away from the cold climate of Sydney to the tropical wonderland of the Whitsunday Islands to contest the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s Airlie Beach Race Week.
Both he and his crew including the Sydney Hobart race veteran David Lawson have been regular visitors to Airlie Beach at Race Week time claiming there is no better place to race and enjoy the regatta atmosphere when the Sydney temperature plunges into the uncomfortable creature comfort zone.
Skipper Bernie van’t Hoff while electing to spend the warm summer months racing Tulip in the short point score races on Pioneer Bay has made no decision to set sail for Sydney.
Meanwhile Tulip long regarded among Australia’s more comfortable cruising yachts has continued to log impressive results in her line honours duels with the Pioneer Bay ‘pace setters’ Questionable Logic (Terry Archer), Re-Ignition (Charles Wallace) and the Spike Verdon skippered First Flight.
Tulip added another important entry to log book when she encountered a mixed range of trade winds, sea conditions and swift flowing current to ward off the challenge from Take Flight and Questionable Logic to secure the line honours in the recent Island Passage race.
The slight waterline length advantage of Tulip combined with the skill of the crew allowed skipper Van’t Hoff to dictate the pace when the gusty 20-25 knot breeze tested the sail changing skills of the crew during the testing leg of the course from Roma Point to Langford Reef.
They continued to sail smart in the dark to eventually claim the line honours while Take Flight and Questionable Logic staged an intense match race for the minor places.
However while the Tulip crew mastered the challenge to sail fast in the dark their course time of a little over 6 hours was not fast enough to beat the lower handicap rating of the Spike Verdon skippered Take Flight.
Take Flight a production Beneteau First 40 class sloop completed an impressive debut to record an impressive corrected handicap win over Tulip and Questionable Logic in her first long distance Island Passage race.
This was an encouraging result for skipper Spike Verdon who has listed Take Flight to contest the Airlie Beach Race Week Grand Prix IRC division later this year.
By Ian Grant.
The exceptional one-design sailing skills of Hamilton Island skipper Glenn Bourke and his Sunshine Coast crew mates Rod Jones and Greg McAllansmith will be placed on notice on Tasmania’s River Derwent this weekend.
As expected the talented trio who race Club Marine Blue under the Hamilton Island Yacht Club burgee are listed as the pre-title favourite for the 12 race Australian SB3 sports boat championship to be contested on the tricky Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania courses from Saturday to Monday.
They have been the National pacesetters in the strict art form of one-design racing in this exciting clone class since finishing fourth in the 2011 World championship in England.
However while the trio of Club Marine Blue sailors have gained enormous respect they will need to be at the top of the game of ‘nautical chess’ to master the class of local Tasmanian helmsman and former World Dragon Class champion Nick Rogers at the tiller of Toll Shipping.
Victories in the heavy weather Queensland championship at Hamilton Island last August followed by an equally impressive win in the open Victorian State title on Geelong’s Corio Bay in late January has set the form guide for Queensland’s Club Marine Blue racing team to be listed as the pre-nationals favourite.
But as every sailor who has had the experience in racing in this tantalising class realises there is no margin for even the slightest error in tactical strategy or crew technique.
The stakes are high and the tactical pressure to master sailing in the cooler latitudes in what is expected to be a variable forecast represents a challenge for all crews including Glenn Bourke, Rod Jones and Greg McAllansmith and their Mooloolaba rival Phil Gray’s Dulon Polish combination.
Both crews who were involved in a collision during the Queensland championship which resulted in the Dulon Polish crew reluctantly recovering their sails and broken mast from a wind tormented Dent Passage understand the importance of taking risks to maintain the upper hand.
But as Phil Gray explained “I took the chance to cross their bow knowing it would be close but came off second best”. He said.
Similar close racing is expected to become a feature on the River Derwent this weekend when the highly competitive fleet tension their sails for the important points and major place medals Australian championship.
The hard core knowledge of local conditions suggests Nick Rogers and his Toll Shipping crew has the experience and tactical skills to present a serious challenge to the inform Queenslander’s in Club Marine Blue.
However the forecast of showers combined with a temperature range between 12 to 21 degrees plus an element of uncertainty in the wind direction and velocity suggests this championship will be decided by the crew who sails the smartest and fastest with the wind that blows over their deck.
SAIL PARADISE is becoming one of Australia’s premier east coast yachting events. It will be sailed on courses set just off the surf-line of the Gold Coast’s magnificent beaches.
The entire concept has been based on a plan to provide the highest level of competitive and satisfying summer sailing for crews of a wide range of yachts – from Grand Prix to Cruising – and at the same time present the sailors, their families and friends the chance to enjoy the many holiday pleasures to be found on the Gold Coast.
For more information visit the website: www.sailparadise.com.au