SYDNEY TO HOBART YACHT RACE

Fathers and sons hit the Freeway

OCEAN Freeway will be sailed by a crew comprising three fathers and four of their teenage sons, plus the boys’ schoolteacher in tomorrow’s Launceston to Hobart yacht race.

Owner/skipper Charles Booth, a Launceston stockbroker, has no pretensions of winning the 285-nautical mile race down Tasmania’s East Coast in the Tamar Yacht Club entry.

“It’s going to be more of a cruise south and an enjoyment for fathers and sons bonding as crew members,” Booth said.

He has two sons in the crew — Tom, 18, who recently finished at Launceston Church of England Grammar School, and George, 17, who has a year to go. Mark Waldron will be joined by his 17-year-old son, Jack, while prominent Laser dinghy sailor Ryan Moreton, 18, is sailing with his father, Rob.

Making up the crew is Grammar teacher Bill Rostrom — “an excellent combination of old and young”, 73-year-old Charles Booth said.

Booth has had plenty of ocean racing experience including three Sydney Hobarts and two Launceston Hobarts while the Ocean Freeway, an Adams 50, has been sailed in two races from Melbourne to Osaka, Japan, as well as several Sydney Hobarts and has cruised across the Tasman.

Launceston Lord Mayor Albert Van Zetten will start the 11th Riversdale Estate Wines Launceston to Hobart race from a line off Inspection Head wharf at Beauty Point at 11.30am tomorrow.