Light winds forecast for Brisbane to Gladstone Race start

11:15 PM Thu 9 Apr 2009 GMT

'SHOGUN (during Skandia Geelong Week 09)' Andrea Francolini / Skandia

A grey dawn with showers falling on offshore islands cast a gloomy outlook for the 61st Brisbane to Gladstone race fleet as the crews prepared to have their Good Friday breakfast this morning.

The boisterous south east trade winds which have tormented the South Queensland coast since January have also taken a rest as the controlling high pressure system in the Tasman Sea moved east over night.

Moreton Bay was surprisingly calm with hardly a white cap in sight while further inshore the start area off the historical Sandgate Pier in Bramble Bay almost resembled a mill pond under the influence of a soft south west land breeze when the sun broke through.

However while Moreton Bay looked peaceful this morning Race Officials remain confident the high performance fleet of 48 yachts representing Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland will start under spinnakers when triple Olympic sailor Ron Jenyns fires the start signal at 11am today.

The changing weather system will present some tense moments for skippers, navigators and tacticians as they settle into plotting a course over the initial 42 nautical miles to exit Moreton Bay via the Fairway Buoy off Caloundra where the wind on the open Coral Sea was blowing stronger at day break this morning.

While the prevailing breeze this morning was lighter than expected the fleet will still provide a colourful spectacle with a spinnaker start while a 'log jam' is expected when they round the Garnet Rock Beacon on the Redcliffe Peninsula.

Peter Harburg's Black Jack still remains as the favourite to lead the fleet while the smaller sloops, Wot Now (Graeme Wood), Quantum Racing (Ray Roberts) and Shogun (Robert Hanna) settle into their expected 308 nautical mile match race for control of the minor places.

Under the present forecast the leading group should reach Caloundra before 3-30 this afternoon and sail past Noosa Heads before dusk.

by Ian Grant

Newsfeed supplied by

#News #Sailing

Light winds forecast for Brisbane to Gladstone Race start

Sports/News

Weather Forecasts & Live Reports

Buy & Sell/Classifieds