Long distance mariner returns to Airlie Beach

1:03 AM Mon 2 Nov 2009 GMT

'Gizo waterfront' Media Services

Whitsunday mariner Laurie Gubb added another long distance cruise to his log book when he recently sailed the comfortable sloop Tropicali into her home port of Airlie Beach.

These days the popular seafarer who has logged an enormous list of miles in racing on the physically demanding blue water circuit off the Australian coast has turned his love of the sea into a more sedate lifestyle including cruising to distant ports.

Earlier this year he was a notable absentee from the short course racing on Pioneer Bay and it was correctly assumed that he had cast the moorings and headed off into the Coral Sea on another adventure cruise this time into the warmer tropical latitudes including Gizo in the Solomon Islands.

A relatively short email confirmed the happy wanderer had safely returned to port and has an extensive list of experiences and highlights which promise to keep his Whitsunday Sailing Club mates entertained.

Laurie Gubb better known to his long list of yachting mates as 'Gubbie' possesses a fun loving character who likes 'breasting the bar' and having a few frosties with his friends however the happy and friendly bar talk will never replace the value and experience gained from his time on the open sea.

No doubt he has further cruises drawn on the chart with a list of notes already on file in the navigator's nook but they will be placed on hold until the end of the monsoon season.

Meanwhile Laurie Gubb like all of his seafaring mates will focus their attention on the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race form guide.

They will have a special interest following the progress on the yacht tracker in the comfort and warmth of their homes while the crews deal with another unstable weather system.

As expected the weather in the Whitsundays at this time of the year is warm and in complete contrast to the conditions that swept in from the Great Southern Ocean to dump nasty storms on Melbourne.

The challenge of selecting the advantage line from the prevailing tropical wind on Pioneer Bay seemed to be a formality for the 2008 Rolex Sydney Hobart Performance handicap class trophy winner Leo Rodriguez when he steered the former Volvo Globe racer Telecoininabox/Merit to a runaway win in the Whitsunday Escape Trophy series.

Skipper Rodriguez and crew showed that it was possible to outpace a high .811 correction factor when they cleverly won the opening heat followed by a 3-2 in the next heats to have the series won with a race to spare.

This was an even more rewarding result when Merit answered the challenges from Wobbly Boot and Sandpiper to finish with a massive 15 point winning margin.

However while the Tasman Sea 'Torture Track' represents a far more difficult test of ocean sailing strategy the result confirmed that the Merit crew possessed the required skill and technique to defend their Rolex Sydney Hobart trophy later this year.

by Ian Grant

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