Yachting and the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club 1988 | Page 204

Tony Dunn · s RPAYC entry

Ex-Tension wins the 1986 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race . From left to right : Back row , John Coates , Ian Treharne , Rick Coxon , Ian Perdreau , Sailing Master . Middle row : Alan Walker and Tony Oear . Front row ; Club Captain Wally Wardle and a wet but happy Tony Dunn . land coast near Gabo Island and , with five or six

otl \ er yachts in sight , head Into Bass Strait In a soft but pleasant !)• wann southecly breeze .

This was too good to lasL The wind graduaUy built up , forcing the fleet to reduce sail . & -tension finally was down to a No . 4 and three reefs in the main and , as me wind slowly backed . an exciting two-sail tight reach followea . Some or lhe fleet such as Indian Pacific \ I elected Lo carry storm jib and trysail and lost ground as the breeze finally eased . Before the masthead wind gear was blown away . the wind had registered 42 kno ~~ true . The log impellor also suffered damage and for the remainder of that race read slow and variable . The above difficulties were c . ompounded when Lhe Satnav switched itself off during a battery problem . The expression · 11aviguessing ' now gained some greater significance for E . x · lension .

With the E ' umeaux group in sight to starboard it was clear lhat a good crossing of Bass Scrait had been made . The radio round-up confirmed that &: -rension

\ V8S more than hang . ing onto Another Concubine in the race for ! OR honour . TI1e brcet .. e had lilted and went round from south-west to south-east and then east . Later i1 backed further to north . Fast time was made down me beautiful Tasmanian coastline which remained close by .

At about 2 am on Tuesday 30 December , a severe vibration was fell lbrough die yacht . Kelp had been picked up and locked against me hull by the elliptical keel . lL was necessary to drop the spinnaker , round up . take all way off and watch as Ian ( Bomber ) Treharne disappeared over the side with flashes of torchlight spearing Uirough the cold and forbidding Tasmaoian waters to mark bis progress . Having succeeded in removing the kelp , Bomber went below ro dry off , only to be called upon for a repeat performance 30 minutes later .

In a concerted effort to regain lost Li me , the crew worked the yacht in the best skiff fashion to surf round Tasman Island al 4.44 am . With daylight , a group of yachts that included Another Co11c11bi11e , Palladi11 and Wild Oats could be seen beyond Cape Raoul . The morning radio schedule recorded that only three yachts had arrived at . Hobart . 1f EJc-1ension couJd sail lhrough lhe calm at Cape Raoul , the ultimate could be possible .

Wid1 the beautiful Farr 37 . Somhern Cross . alongside Ex-te11sion , we were becalmed for a worrying 25 minute .~. Then Southern Cro ~· s , \ vi th ber lightweight masU1ead genoa , showed Ute way out of 1he hole and led a priva1e race to the Iron Pot .

An increase in wind strength required a drop from No . l heavy to No . 3 headsail ( Ex-tensio11 does not use a No . 2 ). Crossing the Derwent just below the Shot Tower we found less tide than Sourhern Cross and led the way to Sandy Bay with me casino and Royal Yacht Club of Tasmanla on the waterfront .

In an obvious attempt m test Ex-rension ' s mettle . the breeze died , but we managed to drift over to be 29th tocrosstbe line with our delighted owner , Tony Dunn , at me helm . The time : 12.22 hours . Comment ~ from spectators and ~ te presence of an army of television and other media people tended to confim1 our ho ~. Impeccable , which neither we nor the Press had taken into account , sailed a fi . oe race to finish a close second .

Crew on Ex-re11sio11 were : Tony Clear , John Coates , Richard Coxon , Tony Dunn . ! an Perdriau , tan Treharne . Allan Walker and Wal Wardle .

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