Auric ’ s Quest for Southport Honours
Fred Bestall ’ s return to Australia and the yacht racing scene marks a big step up from his time living in California in the 1980s racing a heavy one-tonner , the last competitive boat he owned .
Three months ago Bestall bought Bob Steel ’ s 2002 Sydney Hobart winner called Quest and in early January 2017 he ’ ll contest the very first Club Marine Pittwater to Southport Yacht Race sailing the rebadged Auric ’ s Quest for his home state of Queensland and the finish partner , Southport Yacht Club . “ My old boat was a one-tonner I bought from Denis Connor in the ‘ 80s that was either very fast or very slow , no in between , whereas my new boat is a 46-foot dinghy and a much higher level of racing ,” said Bestall talking about his entry in the 370 nautical mile sprint due to start off Barrenjoey Headland at 1pm on Monday January 2 , 2017 .
Three days before the 10th Brisbane to Keppel Race back in August , Bestall took ownership of Steel ’ s champion Nelson / Marek design and renamed it Auric ’ s Quest , after his company and the Latin term for gold . He set off with a preassembled crew for what turned out to be a baptism of fire – a breezy and ultimately record-breaking run north for the eventual line honours winner , Wild Oats XI . Steel and Bestall had the opportunity to meet through the purchase and following Auric ’ s Quest ’ s maiden outing Steel called the green owner to ask : “ How good was the learning curve ?” Bestall tells . “ We finished 11th on line honours in that race , which wasn ’ t bad considering all the big boys were there . We had the wrong combination of sails …. we didn ’ t know the inventory . It ’ s fast , that ’ s the main thing we learnt .” Bestall plans to do as much east coast racing as possible including next
year ’ s winter Sydney to Gold Coast race and Audi Hamilton Island Race Week in August before taking on the vast distance of the RQYS ’ Brisbane to Noumea Race in September , and possibly a Sydney Hobart race down the track . The Irish born , New Zealand educated businessman moved to Australia in the 1970s at 21 then left for overseas to run his company in California for 20 years and Europe for a decade before returning to family on the Gold Coast . He ’ s drumming up interest in the Club Marine Pittwater to Southport Yacht Race among fellow SYC members , adding , “ I know there are people at the club interested . It sounds like it ’ s going to be a great race and feeder event for SYC ’ s Sail Paradise series . The extra competition from the NSW and Victorian boats will be terrific for all of us .” Drew Carruthers ’ Rogers 12 Rushour is the first multihull entrant for the Category 2 race and the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club ’ s organising committee expects other multihull owners to follow his lead .
Carruthers contested the 2014 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Race , the first to accept multihulls , with Rushour then switched to his monohull called Runaway for the 2016 event . His plan is to return in January 2017 with a very different Rushour , essentially a new boat having extended the hull from 40 to 50-feet and adding a 20m tall mast versus the original 12m . Like the previous race to Coffs Harbour there is no requirement for HF radio . Instead the fleet is monitored roundthe-clock via the AIS and Yellow Brick tracking systems , plus organisers use VHF radio and mobile and Sat phones to stay in touch . Trophies will be awarded under the following handicap systems : IRC , PHS , ORCi and OMR , and there is a shorthanded ( PHS ) division on offer .
By Lisa Ratcliff