Palandri Wines Minds Eye on the Home Strait
26 Dec 2007
Palandri Wines Mind’s Eye continues to impress as the smallest boat in this year’s Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
Currently as at racetime 02:01:20:00 the yacht was powering across Bass Strait with an eye on the IRC handicap. Estimated to arrive at Constitution Dock at midday on December 30, if current conditions prevail and the crew continues to make up time they have a good chance of taking the prize.
As at racetime 02:01:20:00
Position
Latitude 38° 47.325' S
Longitude 149° 46.779' E
Location 74nm S of Gabo Island
COG 172.0
SOG 8.1 kt
Estimated elapsed time 03:22:55:22
Estimated speed 6.6 kt
Overall Position 58
IRC
Handicap 1.009
Estimated corrected time 03:23:46:37
Estimated corrected speed 6.6 kt
Position 18
Division E
Position 7
“What a couple of weeks I have had on the water. On Friday 27 October we competed in the Fremantle to Geraldton qualifying race and had a ‘whale of a time’. The race started in a nice afternoon sea breeze in Fremantle, Palandri Wines Mind’s Eye was set for a fast run up the coast. After a furious start we headed out around Rottenest Island and began the 200 nautical mile race up the coast to Geraldton.
The prevailing winds allowed us to sail under the new Palandri Wines spinnaker, which looked sensational as we sped up the coast at 12 to 16 knots. We had made early gains on the much larger competitors and were leading our division and showing a respectable third overall. As night fell the winds increased to 30 knots and we had some great downwind surfs on the 2.5 to 3 metre swells.
At around 10 pm, we were just north of the Lancelin lighthouse and I was getting some well-earned rest in the rear bunk after coming off watch, when we hit what I thought was a container and Palandri Mind’s Eye stopped dead in the water. It turned out we hit Moby while sliding down a wave - probably at around 12 knots (23km/h). The call went out – “WHALE”, which only provoked the beast to thump us again. He/she raised a wing or a tail slid it down the lifelines, flicked the driver, nearly broke an aerial, and twisted the pushpit. 5 tonne of boat at 12kts, Moby would have a slight headache.
After pulling up all the floorboards and checking for damage we turned around into the waves and limped back to Two Rocks. With the help of some locals we put a temporary canvas square over the hole so we could get the boat back to Fremantle for some repairs. After a shipwright’s inspection and some fibreglass patchwork we are still on track for Hobart.
To get some sea miles up I was asked to do the return race from Geraldton to Fremantle last weekend. The 08:30 race briefing stated that there was a strong wind warning issued for our coast with WSW 20 to 30 knots expected on Friday afternoon, overnight to Saturday but moderating to 15 to 20 later in the day, so with that in mind we headed out to the start line knowing that we would get a bit of breeze but not much more than a normal sea breeze.
Not more than two hours into the race, the updated weather forecast was announced with a gale warning issued from Kalbarri to the South Australian border.
The waves were starting to get big and by the middle of the night and we found ourselves in 6 metre breaking waves which slammed the boat pushing it sideways through the water. The wind increased to 35 to 40 knots with gusts at 50 +(100 km per hour) at times added to that it hailed and was the coldest recorded October day in history. 5 boats retired due to damage and we finished in a credible 3rd place.
Just a warm up for Hobart…