Launceston - Hobart expected to eclipse Melbourne - Hobart numbers

Organisers are predicting a fleet of around 45 yachts for this year’s Sargisons Jewellers & Natuzzi Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race, making it the second biggest annual ocean race to finish at Tasmania’s capital city.

The 280 nautical mile race, in only its fourth year, is expected to surpass the long-running Melbourne to Hobart Race in fleet numbers and will be second only to the traditional Sydney Hobart Race.

Already several of Tasmania’s leading offshore racing yachts have indicated they will be racing in the 2010 Launceston to Hobart, including last year’s line honours winner Andrew Hunn’s Mr Kite and runner-up Marineline, skippered by Gary Smith.

New Hobart boats in the fleet will be Edward Fader and Justin Wells’ Dump Truck, a two-times division winner in the Sydney Hobart, Greg Prescott’s Melges 32 2Unlimited and a brand new Beneteau 45 currently being built in France for Launceston yachtsman Richard Fisher.

Fisher, the overall handicap winner of last year’s race with his Beneteau 40.7 Blue Sky, expects the new boat to arrive by ship in Melbourne on 2 December.

“This makes for a quality fleet, both for line honours and AMS handicap results,” DSS Commodore Peter Geeves said today. “There are lot of boats being measured for AMS in Hobart this year and we would expect at least half of these to compete in the Sargisons Jewellers & Natuzzi Launceston to Hobart Race.

Commodore Geeves said he also expected a strong line-up of yachts from the Tamar Yacht Club and Port Dalrymple Yacht Clubs, headed by Richard Fisher’s new Beneteau 45. “We are also anticipating several multihulls from Melbourne to join local multis now they have their own start and division,” he added.

The 2010 Launceston to Hobart has sponsorship from two Tasmanian-owned companies. Last year’s naming rights sponsors, Sargisons Jewellers, have been joined by Natuzzi, importers of high quality, Italian-made furniture.

In what is probably a first for a major offshore race, the proprietors of both sponsors will be sailing in the race – Gavin Cowell from Sargisons aboard Jeff Cordell’s Mumm 36 Host Plus Executive and Andrea Oliver from Natuzzi crewing aboard Anthony Ellis’ Lotus 10.6 Moonshadow. This will be the fourth consecutive L2H for Host Plus Executive, the outright winner of the inaugural race in 2007.

The Derwent Sailing Squadron and the Tamar Yacht Club introduced the Launceston to Hobart in 2007 as an alternative coastal passage race for Tasmanians when other ocean racers were heading for Hobart in the long-established races from Sydney and Melbourne.

Because of its coastal nature and shorter duration, this race is more affordable for competitors and suitable for those wanting to spend Christmas with their families. “It’s a race that’s going from strength because of this concept…it’s the working man’s ocean yacht race,” said sponsor Gavin Cowell of Sargisons Jewellers.

The Launceston to Hobart Race will start on 27 December, again from a line off Inspection Head wharf at Beauty Point on the Tamar River, giving the fleet a testing dash of several nautical miles before clearing Low Head and sailing into the open waters of Bass Strait.

From there the course will take the yachts down the Tasmanian East Coast, probably in company with yachts racing from Sydney and Melbourne, to the joint finish of all three races off Castray Esplanade below Hobart’s historic maritime suburb of Battery Point.

This year will see a separate start for an expanding multihull division 10 minutes after the start of the monohull fleet.

The Notice of Race for the Sargisons Jewellers & Natuzzi Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race will be available later this week from the Derwent Sailing Squadron and the Tamar Yacht Club.

- Peter Campbell