80-footer sets sights on Lord Howe race record
'SHOCKWAVE 5 (Day 2 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2008)'
Andrea Francolini / Audi © Click Here to view large photo
Prominent Sydney yachtsman Andrew Short has entered his recently acquired Reichel/Pugh 80 Shockwave 5 (now renamed Andrew Short Marine) for the Hempel 35th Gosford Lord Howe Island Yacht Race, joining record-holder Getaway Sailing in a likely duel for line honours in the ocean race across the northern Tasman Sea.
Short says he is also aiming at setting a new race record, with the maxi yacht also a serious contender for IRC handicap honours.
The Lord Howe Island Race is the only Category 1 ocean race in Australia waters other than the Rolex Sydney Hobart and is a qualifying race for that event. Fifteen boats are expected to start from Broken Bay on Saturday, 25 October, the size of the fleet being limited by the availability of moorings within the lagoon of the World Heritage-listed semi-tropical island.
Since purchasing Shockwave 5, Andrew Short has skippered the maxi yacht to a line honours win over a fleet of 123 boats in the St David's Lighthouse division of the Newport to Bermuda Race.
Then, in her first series in Australian waters, she competed as Shockwave in the IRC Racing division at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week in August, including taking line honours ahead of Blackjack and Wild Oats XI in the final race, placing third on corrected time.
'Shockwave 5 will give race record-holder Getaway Sailing a run for her money,' Race Director Mark Greenwood said today when confirming the line-up for the tough 414 nauticalmile race to Lord Howe Island
Getaway Sailing, a Volvo 60 skippered by Peter Goldsworthy, set a record of 34 hours 52 minutes and 02 seconds for the new course in the 2006 race, but was nearly 15 hours outside that time in last year's race, sailed in much lighter winds. Andrew Short Marine has been nominated for the IRC division of this year's Lord Howe Island Race, Getaway Sailing for the PHS division.
'The yacht has just successfully completed an amazing 11,000 nautical mile, two-and-a-half month voyage, racing from Newport, Rhode Island, to Bermuda, taking line honors in the St David's Lighthouse Division, then onto Panama and nonstop across the Pacfic to MacKay, Queensland, for the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week,' the 80-footer's owner/skipper Andrew Short said today.
'The race crew got to learn the boat and she performed well against the big names like Wild Oats X, Wild Joe and Black Jack at Hamilton Island. She has now completed the journey home to Sydney, only arriving on last Tuesday, 9 September.
'Andrew Short Marine will be entering the Hempel Gosord-Lord Howe Island race not only as a shakedown for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, but also aiming at setting a new race record for this great race, one of only two Category One races on the Australian East Coast calendar.
'I believe Andrew Short Marine, a Reichel Pugh 80 built in Sydney in 2000, is not only a great line honors contender but is very competitive on IRC handicap as well.
Race Director Greenwood said the fleet for the Hempel 35th Gosford-Lord Howe Island Race represented a cross-section of offshore yachting in Australia.
Three classic yachts in the IRC division are Alan Payne-designed yawl Maris Sanyo (John F Green), the 1970 Sydney Hobart winner Pacha, now owned by Gosford Yacht Club member Bill Koppe, and Chris Dawe's Cole 43 Belmont of Polaris, also sailing under the GSC burgee.
Early favourites for IRC handicap honours, in addition to Andrew Short Marine, include Tony Kirby's X Yacht Patrice Six which won the Sailing South Race Regatta in Hobart last January and Warwick Sherman's regular Lord Howe Island Race contestant, his Cookson 12 Occasional Coarse Language, both from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.
Gosford Sailing Club is considering hiring the Palm Beach ferry to enable spectators to view the start on Broken Bay and following the fleet towards the Terrigal mark for several hours.
The pick-up will about 11am, returning about 4pm and leaving from the Gosford Sailing Club, Ettalong Beach and Palm Beach. Further details will be published on the GSC website - www.gosfordsailingclub.com.au
by Peter Campbell
Bermagui, NSW
