Photo by : PAUL SCAMBLER

Top skippers predict another nail-biter

NO MORE than 45 minutes have ever separated Tasmanian skippers Terry Travers and Phil Marshall at the finish line of the Hydro Tasmania Three Peaks Race.
Sometimes just seconds have come between them after four days of gruelling competition.
And the margin is only getting smaller.
Travers, a Devonport pharmacist, and Marshall, an engineer from Squeaking Point, have dominated the endurance sailing-running event for the last eight years. But a number of factors have further evened the teams on the two Chamberlin-designed catamarans this year, as both vie to be the first team to win five Three Peaks races.
The parallels between this year's race crews on Marshall's Slingshot (Neil Buckby Motors Subaru) and Travers' Excess (Westbury-Mersey Pharmacy) are uncanny.
``There's me and Phil just struggling along as we do,'' Travers laughed.
``We've each got a sailmaker in the crew; we've each got semi-professional sailors in Charlie (Nolan) and Fletch (Peter Fletcher). Tim Piper and Clarence Blake are new runners for both of us this year. They're both from Launceston and pretty evenly matched. And we've both got our veteran runners, Mark Guy and Andy Kromar.''
Kromar set record times on all three mountains in 1996. Two have since been beaten, but he still holds the fastest overall running time.
Travers, his skipper of eight years, can't speak highly enough of the Victorian.
``Andy's just awesome – he runs for six hours, gets back to the boat and goes `where are the oars?','' he said, referring to the team's legal means of human-powered propulsion.
Blake will replace Kromar's injured running partner Michael Wheatley. Marshall will take on Tim Piper, who ran with last year's third-placed entry Jailhouse Grill, after the retirement of one half of his 2009 King of the Mountain-winning running partnership, Paul McKenzie.
Another leveller between the two teams will be Travers' ``top-secret'' new sails.
``Last year Phil brought out these new sails and I thought, `you cheeky little bugger – I asked you only a week ago if you were getting new sails','' he laughed.
``I've been planning for new sails for years; some of the ones we're using were launched with the boat in 1993 and they're just bags. The mainsail is the one we took to Antarctica (Travers and Robin Chamberlin became the only people to sail a catamaran inside the Antarctic Circle in 1999) and it's not the lightest sail.
``I decided that because it's so competitive – every year we both finish in Hobart, it's been close – Phil getting new sails would be the catalyst for us to get some.
``They should set a bit better so we won't have to row as much.''
Brisbane sailmaker Ben Kelly will deliver the sails when he flies in to join the team for his first Three Peaks.
Also flying in is Hobart-based international sailor Peter Fletcher, who Travers describes as one of his team's strengths.
``Fletch is extremely competitive and knowledgeable. And he's the most `winningest' person in the Three Peaks – he won three with John Saul and four with us, and no-one else has won seven,'' Travers said.
``Even though he could've been paid to sail in Asia over Easter he's coming with us, which is pretty special for my 10th race.''
Marshall said his team's strongest point was teamwork.
``Some of the teams have a `them and us' attitude (between the runners and sailors), but five people who work together will always beat three and two,'' he said.
``Everybody looks after everybody on our boat. There's times we have our runners sail the boat for us – that's one of our advantages with Mark (Guy) being such a competent sailor. It lets the sailors get a bit more rest.''
New weather modelling software will give Slingshot a technological edge this year, as it will be the conditions that bring out the teams' biggest differences.
Travers' Chamberlin 11.6 has a longer waterline than Marshall's Chamberlin 9; the shorter boat has a better power-to-weight ratio but a greater wetted surface area.
``So in light airs (Slingshot) sticks more – that's where we get an advantage,'' Travers said.
``The best conditions for us are probably light to medium airs; not too much heavy windward stuff. I don't want to bash down the East Coast like we did a couple of years ago.''
Marshall said: ``Thirty knots hard on the nose all the way would suit us pretty well. In this race, even if you think you've got a big lead, it can be gobbled up very quickly when the wind drops out.''
Despite the heat of the competition, Travers and Marshall maintain a friendly rivalry.
``It used to be interesting because we're friends, but as it got closer to Easter, the intensity would build up and up,'' Travers said.
``But this year, it's not the ultimate because I'm older and other things are more important than boat races. Even Phil's mellowing.''
The pair prepared their boats together at Marshall’s home this week.
``Phil was up my mast before,'' Travers said.
``He said: `I want you on the start line so I can beat you'.
``I guess the pressure's on him because he's the defending champion – he's the one to beat. Whatever happens, it's going to be a close race unless one of us busts something. If he does get it, I'll be happy for him, as long as it's been a race.''
Marshall denied he was under pressure to win five in a row, but said he had other motivating factors.
``Mark Guy is talking about retiring this year, it would be his last race as a runner, so everybody would be pretty keen to send him out on a winning note,'' he said.
``And Charlie's the only one that's won four from four starts, so five from five would be a pretty good record.''
Marshall lines up for the 16th time this year. His passion for the Three Peaks is such that he had a catamaran specifically designed to win it. Launched untried in 2000, Slingshot (Neil Buckby Motors Subaru) suffered two retirements until Marshall's constant tuning pushed it to its first win in 2005.
``He's done the hard yards,'' Travers said.
``So if he beats us, well, he's earned it. But we're not going to give it to him.''
Marshall admits it won't be easy, but is confident his team can pull off the fifth win.
``I don't envisage there'll be that big a margin unless something goes wrong or there is a big upwind section,'' he said.
``I think you'll find we'll both be in the Derwent at pretty much the same time and of course the Derwent's open to anyone – whoever draws the best straw on the day.
``Our runners are going to run fairly similar times... so it's going to come down to who makes the least mistakes.''
But there is one external factor that could separate the race leaders.
Racing division (short-handed) entries have the option of using the Dunalley Canal between Tasman Island and south-east mainland Tasmania to cut 50nm from the course.
However, navigating the shallow channel is difficult and time-consuming, and often involves teams using their alternative forms of human propulsion. If yachts don't reach the bridge that spans the canal by midnight, they have to wait until 8am for it to be lifted so they can pass.
But this year the bridge will only be moved between 8am and 5pm.
``So if you arrive at entrance (to the canal) at 3pm, you're not going to get through (to the bridge in time),'' Marshall said.
``And you've wasted four hours because you've got to beat back out.
``It makes the decision-making hard; it adds another element to the competition. I don't think many boats will take the risk to get caught up in there.''
And that means a loss for the tiny Dunalley community, Marshall said.
``We've got there in daylight the last two years and the banks are packed with people watching – there's 90 people lining up for a pie at the local shop,'' he said.
Travers recalled: ``Remember that year we were walking through the bush pulling the boats in the middle of the night and ran into that guy in his pyjamas? It was like `whoah, where did you come from?' and he said `I come out every year to watch the boats'. They just love it.''
While spectators prepare for a show-down between the two catamarans, their skippers are quick to remind people that they're not the only teams in the race.
``Don't discount the others – Bruce (Arms, BWR Multihulls) has a shot in his big cat and Rob (Gourlay, Tas Marine Construction), is also a contender,'' Travers said.
Marshall described John Hall's Elphinstone monohull as a potential surprise package.
``(Gourlay's) Thompson will be fast but not too comfortable – fatigue could be the big issue for them,'' he said.
``They'll be fast on the first leg but we'll have to see what happens after that.''