6:18 AM Wed 18 Nov 2009 GMT
A record fleet of 29 yachts has entered the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania's Tasports Maria Island Yacht Race this weekend, the Tasmanian qualifying event for Hobart yachts competing in the long ocean races from Sydney, Melbourne and Launceston to Hobarts between Christmas and New Year.
The strong fleet underlines the growth of ocean racing in Tasmania which has seen eight yachts from this state enter the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and predictions of 40 to 50 boats in the Sargisons Launceston Hobart Race.
The 190 nautical mile Maria Island Race starts off Hobart's Castray Esplanade at 7pm Friday, taking the fleet down the River Derwent, rounding the Iron Pot to sail across Storm Bay, past Tasman Island and up the East Coast to round Maria Island off Orford before sailing back to Hobart.
When entries closed today the fleet includes five of the eight Tasmanian boats entered for the Rolex Sydney Hobart: Sally Rattle and Scott Brain's Archie, David Bean's Auch, David Creese's Dekadence, Todd Leary's She's the Culprit and Tony Lyall's Valheru.
This will be the first race in southern Tasmanian waters for Dekadence, a well-performed DK 46 previously raced out of Melbourne's Sandringham Yacht Club, while Valheru is returning to racing after ballast modifications carried out for her Beaconsfield owner/skipper.
Sally Rattle, with her successful Archambault 35 Archie, is one of three women owner/skippers in the Maria Island Race, the others being former Launceston sailor Lisa Guy helming the van der Stadt 40 Insatiable and Dianne Barkas with her fast Sydney 38 Sullivans Cove Whisky.
Archie won this race is on IRC handicap in 2007 while last year's winner, Todd Leary's She's the Culprit, is racing again.
The Maria Island Race will also the return to competition of Andrew Hunn's radical Cape 40, Mr Kite, and the offshore racing debut in Tasmania of Steve Chau's recently acquired Sydney 38, Ciao Baby II, both expected to contest the Launceston to Hobart Race.
For the crew of the 36-footer Whistler, the race is the start of a campaign to compete in both the Tasmanian and British Three Peaks Races, the ultimate combination of offshore yacht racing and mountain running in 2010.
After completing the Maria Island Race on Sunday morning the crew of three sailors and two specialist runners will compete in the Point to Pinnacle run, from Wrest Point to the peak of Mount Wellington.
Twenty of the boats will be fitted with satellite trackers which should provide real time position reports of these boats throughout the race and displayed on the web site
www.oceantrack.com
by Peter Campbell
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Sailing
