Welcome to this special edition of Southern Cross Yachting ENews. We thank the Manly Village times for allowing us to reprint this story from Friday’s front page…
Sports news
Local Boys to go for 24 hour record in Brisbane to Keppel Race.
Manly Village Times. Friday 29th July 2016.
As the yachting world celebrates the overnight news of the 100 foot Comanche’s smashing of the transatlantic monohull record and setting the new 24 hour mono hull record, it seems the 24 hour record may not be theirs for very long.
Local boat Southern Cross Yachting has announced that it will be attempting to break the record during the 10th Brisbane to Keppel Tropical yacht race starting a week today. One of the favourites for both line and handicap honours in this year’s race, the yacht has just gone back in the water after a massive refit including new anti-foul.
The owner and skipper for the race, Mike Job was interviewed about the attempt by broadcaster Alan Jones on his top rating breakfast radio show this morning…
AJ – Good morning Mike, well this is big news, so how will you do this, given that Comanche’s run in 24 hours was 618.01 nm, but the Keppel race is only 340?
MJ – Good morning Alan, yes this was always going to be problematic but we have worked out a way to cover the extra distance, We are establishing a ‘gate’ about 200 miles north east of Fraser Island that we will go through. We have a support team heading out there now with some timber and posts to make it. As we cross the finish line off Rosslyn Bay we will have sailed 619.01 Nautical miles – one mile further than Comanche.
AJ – Good lord, you will be well out to sea –keep a sharp look out for any of those boat people! So what prompted you to attempt it now – surely these records require waiting for the right conditions?
MJ – Quite right Alan and if our long range weather modelling is on the money, we will have the exact conditions that the boat was built for. Let me explain to the listeners, Comanche is designed for very heavy reaching conditions. She excels in strong winds and big seas, so they waited around for a big low to hook a ride on. Southern Cross is optimized to go upwind in light winds and flat water, so the huge high pressure system that should settle over the course during the race is ideal for us. Alan, even though these are very different boats the theory is the same. We are both looking for the conditions that suit its own design to sail to its optimum.
AJ – Comanche is some 60 feet longer and 1 ton lighter than your boat. How do you overcome this?
MJ – We intend to sail very high angles – as soon as we leave the bay we will go hard to the right.
AJ – Yes well that is wise in all areas…Have you spoken to Jim Clarke the owner of Comanche? I believe you two have much in common. He owns Netscape and you Southern Cross Yachting, so you both run global corporations and there is another similarity. You both married much younger women from Brisbane who are far more attractive than you. Have you talked?
MJ- No but I have had a brief conversation this morning with Comanche’s navigator Stan Honey. We are hoping to get Stan on board with us, but when I started explaining the programme to him on the sat phone, the line went dead. I will try him again later.
AJ – Apart from sailing a greater distance what else will you be doing different this year?
MJ- The catering on board will most definitely be different. Normally I like to cook slow cooked lamb shanks during the race, but I won’t have time this year. It doesn’t matter, as we have a booking at Keppel Bay marina for lunch on Saturday.
AJ – Well fair winds and like the rest of a breathless, waiting world I will be glued to the tracker.
Coming up next, why Tony Abbott should get the top job at the UN