NOTICEBOARD

LARGE FLEET HEAD TO TAMAR

A FLEET of almost 40 Laser sailors will be heading to the Port Dalrymple Yacht Club on the Tamar River this weekend for the annual Tasmanian open and masters championships in the standard, radial and 4.7 divisions. Heading the Standard and Radial divisions will be Jock Calvert and Sam King, fresh from impressive performances against big fleets in the West Australian championships. Sam, who has been mixing his Laser sailing with helming his father’s SB20 on the Derwent River, finished a close third overall behind Australian Radial champion Conor Nicholas and another prominent WA sailor Zachary Littlewood. Jock, a relative newcomer to the Standard Lasers, the Olympic class, lined up against a strong WA fleet of 26 and finished fourth overall just one point out of second overall. He finished the regatta by winning the last race. While Jock will start favourite in the championship series in Hobart for the Standard rigs and Sam for the Radials, it is expected that Will Sargent and Max Gluskie will battle it out for the 4.7 title. Meanwhile, there is again Tasmanian interest in the Brisbane to Gladstone annual Queensland Easter coastal dash. The most recent successful Tasmanian-owned yacht in the race has been Alive skippered by Duncan Hine with a win and a second on corrected time last year and a win in the previous year. Alive is now owned overseas, but there will be Tasmanian interest this year with the appearance of Mr Kite formerly owned by Hobart yachtsman Andrew Hunn. The 68th Brisbane to Gladstone race conducted by the Queensland Cruising Club starts on the morning of Good Friday, March 25, with leaders due to finish the following afternoon. The race record is 20 hours 24 minutes and 20 seconds set by Skandia Wild Thing in 2004.

TASMANIANS INTERESTED

THERE will be plenty of Tasmanian interest in the upcoming Maritime Museums of Victoria conference. Entitled Bass Strait: The Western Approaches, the conference will be hosted by the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village at Warrnambool from April 8-10. The Maritime Museums of Victoria’s brilliant basic concept is a multi-site organisation spread, at present, over 15 member museums in Victoria. They are located in various coastal and riverine centres and some are even afloat. It was established in 1993, exactly 149 years after first permanent white settlement in Victoria was established at Portland, which has strong links with Tasmania, and has a basic philosophy that in-situ or on-site museums should house local museum artefacts in their own environment. This year’s theme, featuring a wide spectrum of keynote speakers, pays tribute to the wealth of maritime history on the west coast of Victoria and its close relationship with Bass Strait and thus Tasmania and South Australia. More than 180 wrecks and strandings have been recorded in the area and the host museum at Flagstaff Hill includes Australia’s largest collection of shipwreck artefacts. For more information visit www.flagstaffhill.com or email: ckelly@warrnambool.vic.gov.au