Pittwater to Coffs

Friday 2nd Janury 2009
By Damian Devine

A spectacular, clean start today in a 8-10knot ESE breeze saw the fleet of 61 yachts get away from Broken Bay for the running of the 2009 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Offshore race, the first ocean race of the year.

With a great flotilla of spectator fleet looking on under clear blue skies, the line was split between a weighted boat end and the pin end where a few of the pre race favourites, jockeyed positions for their start.

On a slight 1-1.5m swell, Perpetual Mocean avoided the commotion of the start getting to leeward of the Farr 45, Pretty Woman who had the best of starts, crossing the line first, pin end followed by the Farr 40, Eleven. With Pretty Woman the windward boat, it didn't take long for Bruce Hogan's Marten 49 Perpetual Mocean to take the lead from Pretty Woman. Others at the pin end away to a good start were Ausmaid, Risk and Bribie Star.

At the boat end of the line, Spirit of Lexus, a Farr 42 laid the start line the best followed by another Farr 40 Edake, the Cookson 12 About Time and the Beneteau 44.7 Le Billet.

 By Cape Three Points with the fleet starboard reached their way out of Broken Bay,  the field had settled into a rhythm and were sorting themselves out. Perpetual Mocean easily led the fleet in clear air gaining  good boat speed ahead of Pretty Woman with Tulip, the Swan 45 in 3^rd. Ausmaid was making ground and she was followed by the three Farr 40's who got very good starts including Eleven (formerly Splash Gordon), Jeff Carter's Edake and the other RQYS contender Bribie Star. Rounding out the Top 10 was another Farr, the 42' Spirit of Lexus under the helm of Pat Langley, the Cookson 12 About Time and the ever present Le Billet.

The forecasters downgraded their previous 20-30knot SE forecast to a building 15-20knot ESE in the afternoon and into the evening as the fleet make their way up the coast before it moves left into Saturday.

By 2:15pm, fleet were spread from Munmorah on the central coast  and further south. Via phone call with Jeff Carter, owner/skipper of the Farr 40 Edake, he reported  that Perpetual Mocean was approximately one nautical mile in front of Pretty Woman with Ausmaid in 3rd. The Swan 45 Tulip and Edake, were behind them side by side, with another two Farr 40s, Eleven and Bribie Star just abeam with Spirit of Lexus. Le Billet and About Time were another 1/2 mile behind and opting for an inside course. Edake reported being approximately 8 miles offshore with the breeze at 13 knots ESE and travelling at 8.5 knots across the water. They were reportedly looking forward to "two sail reaching for the next 12 hours."  

The next report is the 8pm sked and information will be updated following the radio report by the fleet. The sked positions will be reported via a google map feed plotting the fleet's position on the event website at www.pittwatertocoffs.com.au

With the SE filling in later today, the race record still looks safe for another year. It stands at 18hrs 29mins 30 secs set by Wild Oats IX back in 2003.