A record fleet of 48 yachts have entered the 10th Launceston to Hobart yacht race later this month.
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The fleet will begin the journey from Beauty Point to the state’s capital on Tuesday, December 27.
The contingent ranks highly with many from Southern and Northern yachts clubs as well as Victoria and Queensland.
The 385-nautical mile race is a co-operative effort between the Derwent Sailing Squadron and the Tamar Yacht Club with more than 15 Southern yachts already parked in the marina at Beauty Point.
Only three Northern boats have entered this year’s journey: John Joyce’s much travelled Lyons 47 Allusive (Tamar), Michael Jones’s Custom 3 Ambition (Port Dalrymple) and Stephen McElwee’s Green 32 Lawless (Port Dalrymple).
Lawless won the 2015 Launceston to Hobart PHS (handicap) division on corrected time and has a second place in a Sydney Hobart race to her credit.
However, there will be a lot of Northern Tasmanian interest in the DSS-based Force Eleven, a Adams 11.9, which Tristian Gourlay and Jamie Cooper plan to sail in the two-handed Melbourne to Osaka race this year.
Gourlay is the son of round-the-world yachtsman Ken Gourlay, of Launceston, the fastest and oldest Australian yachtsman to sail solo around the world.
Allusive is one of two David Lyons’ designed yachts in the race, the other being the Bellerive Yacht Club-based yacht Filepro to be skippered by Darren Clark.
The difference in design and built is immense.
Filepro, which won the IMS category of the boat-breaking 1993 Sydney as Micropay Cuckoos Nest, is a light displacement out-and-out racing yacht, a Lyons 40.
Allusive is a one-off pilot house cruiser-racer, a Lyons 47 built in Hobart of aluminium.
The PHS division win by Lawless was only the second corrected time division win by a yacht from a River Tamar club in nine Launceston to Hobart races.
Line honours this year is again expected to be between The Fork in the Road, Gary Smith’s Bakewell-White 45, and Tilt, Peter Cretan’s Martens 49 – both from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
Handicap results are always hard to predict and certainly more difficult this year with a record fleet.
Melbourne yacht Absolut (Archambault 34) will be a strong contender along with Filepro, Jeff Cordell’s Mumm 36 B&G Advantage and Michael and Michelle Denney’s New Zealand designed Wild West (Z39).
Conditions for sailing are expected to be good.