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The Sydney-Gold Coast Race was the first offshore event in Australia in which two-handed and fully crewed boats competed within the same divisions. Conditions were light, and the results not quite as expected.
It’s natural to think that the heavier the conditions the more disadvantaged a two-handed boat should be racing against fully crewed entrants.
But the 384nm Sydney-Gold Coast Race just completed in predominantly light winds on the Australian east coast might indicate the opposite. The two-handers, who would have given many of the conventional yachts a decent fight on IRC and ORCi during the medium-to-fresh Sydney-Hobart in December, struggled to sail to their handicaps.
Constant sail changes and the energy-sapping need to chase every puff of wind clearly took their toll. It’s also probable that in drifting conditions on a lumpy sea their autohelms weren’t sufficiently responsive. Hand-steering for long watches on cold winter nights can be frustrating – and exhausting. Every mile is hard won.
The first 30 hours of the race were deathly slow as the fleet of 61 starters crept North. Even the 100-foot supermaxis with their vast spreads of sail found it difficult to make better than 8 knots. After two days’ racing half the 10-strong fleet of two-handers had retired, either because of equipment failure, injuries or time constraints. The attrition rate among the fully crewed yachts was lower.
Up front, the three 100-footers engaged in a tactical battle that saw a gamble pay off for Comanche. Initially Black Jack and Wild Oats XI swapped the lead as they hugged the coast. But then Will Oxley, navigator on Comanche, sent his boat much further East looking for more breeze and a better angle on which to approach the finish off Southport…
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