Time is Wight to do battle

THE Fastnet Race, ranked along with the Sydney Hobart and the Bermuda Race as one of the three most famous long ocean races in the world, starts off Cowes on the Isle of Wight tomorrow.

A fleet of 340 boats will set sail on the 605-nautical mile race along England’s south coast, then across the Irish Sea to round Fastnet Rock and return to finish off Plymouth.

Like the Sydney to Hobart, the race is sponsored by Rolex, and the fleet includes at least two yachts that will contest the Sydney to Hobart this year.

Maxi Ludde Ingvall, a past line honours winner in both the Fastnet and the Sydney to Hobart, is campaigning the biggest monohull yacht, the 100-footer CQS, hoping to repeat his Fastnet win of 1985.

Also preparing for the 73rd Sydney to Hobart is the former US boat, the classic yawl Kialoa II, now registered in Australia.

It has been 46 years since the 73-footer Kialoa II took line honours in the 1971 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, and when the boat lines up for this year’s Fastnet Race its racing revival will be complete.

Brothers Patrick (Australia) and Keith Broughton (UK) bought the aluminium warhorse, the second in American Jim Kilroy’s series of maxi racing yachts called Kialoa, last year with the view to compete in the classic ocean races, as Kialoa II did under Kilroy.

The last time Kialoa II completed the Fastnet Race was in 1969 when she finished runner-up over the line.

A combined Australian and UK Kialoa II crew of 18, including key members of what was once Australia’s most successful maxi yacht team on George Snow’s Brindabella — names such as Bob Fraser, Lindsay May and Tony Hearder among the stalwarts — are preparing for the start of the world’s biggest offshore race.

Paddy Broughton says rebuilding Kialoa II has been complex, and that being on the start line tomorrow with the boat back in racing shape will be a moment to reflect on.

Since the Kilroy days Kialoa II has been used as a sail training vessel for the US Coast Guard and cruised extensively under various owners.

Now the Broughtons’ journey to re-race the classics is set to begin.

First up is the Fastnet Race, then after a lengthy delivery sail the 45-tonne boat will arrive in Sydney in November to tackle another major bluewater event, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starting on December 26.

Electronics course

MARINE electronics for beginners will be covered in a one-day course at Franklin, south of Hobart, on October 1.

The hands-on course will cover a range of skills including the correct way to strip wire and crimp fittings, making battery cables, how to wire a bilge pump, how to test batteries, circuits and pumps, and how to wire up a switchboard.

Participants will leave the course with a theory manual.

Places are limited and bookings for the course are being taken. For more information email info@franklinmarine.com.au or phone 6266 3768

Tamar boating expo

THE fifth outdoor and boating expo next month organised by the Tamar Yacht Club has already attracted a record number of exhibitors.

The 2017 Tasmanian Outdoor Boat and Caravan Show at the Silverdome in Launceston will run from September 8-10.

The Tamar Yacht Club is a not-for-profit organisation and any money raised goes to helping community groups and projects with a focus on boating.

Moneys have also been used for schemes to promote sailing opportunities in the Launceston area. More information, including exhibitor space, is available from tasoutdoorshow.org.au or phoning 0432 031 100.