Coastal Classic: Update from Alfa Romeo - 1500hrs - well within record

2:30 AM Fri 23 Oct 2009 GMT

'Owner/skipper Neville Crichton on the helm of Alfa Romeo - at the start of the 2009 HSBC Coastal Classic' Richard Gladwell Click Here to view large photo

Sail-World spoke to ONE Sport's Martin Tasker aboard Alfa Romeo around 1445hrs this afternoon.

At that stage she was in the vicinity of Poor Knights. Speeds were well over 20kts - more than sufficient to achieve the 17kt average to break the race record.

She was sailing on a two sail fetch with a jib-top set.

Tasker reported that when they passed the Hen and Chickens Islands they were about 25 minutes ahead of the race record, however navigator Mike Quilter believed they would need all of that to stay within the record, unless the breeze shifted to a more favourable direction after rounding Cape Brett.

When Sail-World spoke to Tasker, they had two tonnes of waterballast stacked in and the keel fully canted to 40 degrees.

Round the World veteran Erle Willaims was driving - and the 20kts plus must have seemed positively pedestrian compared to the 40kts he achieved during the 2004/05 Round the World race.

Further updates to follow.

by Richard Gladwell

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Coastal Classic: Update from Alfa Romeo - 1500hrs - well within record

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