Sydney Hobart champion wrecked on Queensland's Noosa Beach

11:30 PM Fri 3 Apr 2009 GMT

'Ausmaid on Noosa Beach' Noosa Coastguard

Bruce Absolon the proud owner of dual Sydney Hobart race winner Ausmaid experienced a yacht owner's worst nightmare when the champion sloop was wrecked on Noosa's north shore beach on the south east Queensland coast yesterday.

The pedigree of the Bruce Farr designed 14.47m sloop which had mastered the storm tormented Tasman Sea to allow previous owners Georgia Gjergja (1996) and Kevan Pearce (2000) to celebrate Hobart race winning crew parties in her cockpit became an image of shattered dreams on the lonely rain drenched beach.

Understandably Absolon was a shattered man however he was not alone with many of the Ausmaid 'fan club' including previous owners and crew also became emotional when the news broke that the champion sloop had lost her keel and rudder beside suffering extensive structural damage after being barrel rolled in the storm influenced surf.

Her crew began a struggle for survival south of Double Island Point on Thursday morning when her rig snapped during a 360 degree 'capsize' under the foaming fury of a growling 11 metre wave.

Ausmaid set sail on the final 90 nautical miles of her delivery trip from Hamilton Island to contest the 61st Brisbane to Gladstone race when the activation of an EPIRB signal alerted rescue authorities that a vessel was in trouble when a severe low depression closed on the Sunshine Coast.

Thankfully the three crew members were winched to safety by the AGL Rescue Helicopter crew while Noosa Coast Guard towed the crippled sloop to safer waters under the lee of Noosa Heads National Park.

Ausmaid was believed to be safely anchored in Laguna Bay but she broke away and was blown into the foaming breakers and left wrecked on the wet sand.

As expected Bruce Absolon said he was shattered by the loss of his champion yacht which he described as 'priceless and 'absolutely irreplaceable'.

'It's not only a huge loss for me; it's a huge loss for yacht racing in Australia'. he said.

Those thoughts were also expressed by a number of high profile yacht racing sailors including Brisbane to Gladstone Race director Herb Prendergast.

'Ausmaid was the first official entry we received and her loss to Australian yacht racing is similar to losing your best mate' he said.

by Ian Grant

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