Scarlet’s red-hot start

43-footer too slick for fleet

SCARLET Runner stole the march in the 50th anniversary Melbourne to Hobart yacht race leading the fleet out of Port Phillip Bay and into Bass Strait on day one.

Skippered by Victorian Rob Date, sail captain at Sandringham Yacht Club, Scarlet Runner was too slick for the 49yacht fleet competing in the milestone 435 nautical mile event.

The brand-new 43-footer was built specially for the M2H and delivered immediately for Date by claiming the Port Phillip Sea Pilots Trophy as the first boat through Port Phillip Heads.

Before the event, Date was in a different race to get the boat ship shape.

“We got the boat ready to win the 50th anniversary Westcoaster and we think this is the boat to do it in,” Date said.

Scarlet Runner led the crossing to King Island.

Extasea (Paul Buchholz), MRV (David King), Hartbreaker (Anthony Walton), Maritimo (Michael Spies) and Carrera S (Gerry Cantwell) were in close formation in hot pursuit.

Brent McKay’s BakewellWhite Z39, Jazz Player, was the leading Tasmanian boat.

Maritimo was a late-comer to the race, with Spies, a former Sydney-Hobart handicap winner, sailing it 1000nm to Melbourne for the start of the race.

It took an early lead on Port Phillip but sailed into a light patch of air and lost its advantage but was closing in on the lead late on day one.

Melbourne’s Grant Dunoon, skipper of Blue Water Tracks sailing in the doublehanded division, expects a wet but quick race to Hobart. “If the boats get to King Island before midnight they will slip through before the current changes and starts to flow to the north,” he said.

“The middle and slower boats will get a wet ride after midnight between King Island and Cape Grim, if it’s wind going against current.

“From six tomorrow morning, when the westerly comes in, the short sharp waves will ensure a wet ride for almost everyone.”