Photo courtesy Facebook: Wild Thing Yachting

Easter’s historic flagship sailing regatta once again tested the skill of sailors as they embarked on the 570km coastal race from Brisbane to Gladstone, with Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (RQYS) boats and crew taking out the majority of firsts across the fleets from its eight entries from a total 29.

Wild Thing 100 claimed Line Honours, crossing the finish line on Saturday 4 April at 6:24am led by Grant Wharrington. Kerb, led by Brett Whitbread, took out first place overall to win the Courier Mail Cup while Yachtshare Ignition took out first in the two-handed division.   With all three boats representing RQYS, the club is once again in an enviable position as one of the strongest fleets in the country.

Brett Whitbread, Skipper of Kerb reflected, “With the forecast looking like a fast one, to say the crew were pumped was an understatement.

“As the night went on the breeze kept building and with each rain squall we saw wind well above 30kts, and with the seas building around Breaksea, we had plenty on. The boat has a limited selection of downwind sails, and knowing that we needed to save our biggest spinnaker for the final run home, we decided on the chicken Chute (A5) for the run across The Paddock.”

The strong South-Easterly trade winds delivered one of the best rides up to Gladstone, with winds in the high 20knots making for a top boat speed for Wild Thing 100 of 25.8knots or, for comparison, approximately 50km/hr over ground making for a very wet ride for the competitors.

With plenty of broken boat gear, the race continues to be one of the most challenging in the Australian sailing calendar.  Queensland sailors now enjoy time to recover before turning toward the newest regatta on the blue-water calendar, the inaugural Brisbane to Bundaberg Offshore Yacht Race, which departs Brisbane on 18 June before a well-earned rest for sailors during the quieter Winter months.