Wild Oats XI looking for a race record time in the Brisbane to Keppel Yacht race After averaging just eight knots over 384 nautical miles before taking line honours in this week’s Land Rover Sydney to Gold Coast race, the Oatley family’s champion supermaxi, Wild Oats XI, could go to the other extreme this weekend and break her own record time for the Brisbane to Keppel yacht race. Skipper Mark Richards and his 19-man crew are anxiously watching the development of a 20 to 30 knot south-easterly wind pattern which is expected to prevail across the entire 348 nautical mile course from Moreton Bay to the finish line set just south of Yeppoon. The race starts near Green Island, on…
The Oatley family’s Sydney-Hobart yacht race record holder, the 30-metre long supermaxi Wild Oats XI, will make her return to ocean racing this weekend after a six month break. She will be competing in the annual Land Rover Sydney-Gold Coast race, which starts on Sydney Harbour at 1pm on Saturday. A near-record fleet of 76 yachts will participate.
It’s a long way from Wellstead in the West Australian outback to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, but that’s the life journey that has led to Roger Ellett’s Catalina 40, Satori, becoming the 100th entry for this year’s regatta. Satori’s nomination has established remarkable milestones for Race Week: the fleet size is more than forty percent greater than for the same time in 2015, and has come at the fastest rate in the event’s 33-year history. If this trend continues the number of starters will exceed 200, and could be a record.