Westbury-Mersey Pharmacy was the first yacht to finish the first leg of the Hydro Tasmania Three Peaks Race, arriving at Lady Barron just before midnight and only a couple of hours outside record time.
Skipper Terry Travers said he was very happy with the "pleasant crossing". He gave his seal of approval to the new sails made by crew-member Ben Kelly, of Brisbane. Crew-member Peter Fletcher said there wasn't as much wind as they would have liked.
They estimated a lead of about 30 minutes on main rival Phillip Marshall.
Andrew Kromar and Clarence Blake are on the running course after checking in their gear. They are confident, well-rested and relaxed and looking forward to stretching their legs on what they described as good, cool conditions with not too much wind.
They elected to take on the 65km circuit in a clockwise direction, taking the coastal track before climbing the peak and returning to race control via the road.
Flinders Island head marshal Robyn Dilger advised the runners that there were seven water stations on the course as well as rocky and sandy patches.
Travers’ 30-minute prediction was spot on, with Neil Buckby Motors Subaru dropping their runners at Lady Barron at 12.25am.
“How far in front was XS?’’ was skipper Phil Marshall’s first question.
He then said they had had a “beautiful” crossing, although there was less wind than he would have liked, and admitted that his rival’s decision to head north had paid off.
“We expected the wind to shift to the south-west but it stayed from the north-west and we just sailed into a bit of a hole,’’ he said.
“In the lighter winds, with the longer waterline and new sails, they just had a bit more speed. But there’s a long way to go yet and half an hour isn’t long, so we’re pretty happy with that.’’
Runners Tim Piper and Mark Guy will be chasing their opposing runners, also choosing to take on the coastal track first.
“See you for breakfast,’’ they said as they departed race control.
They will have to run a fast time if they want breakfast, as Flinders Island volunteers Fran and Alison have already fired up the barbecue on the jetty.
Traditional egg and bacon sandwiches are on offer along with hot chips, spaghetti bolognaise, hot dogs, sandwiches and cakes home-made by the volunteers.
Fran said she didn’t mind baking all day and then staying up all night to serve hungry competitors, committee-members, supporters and spectators.
“It’s all good fun, as long as it only happens once a year,’’ she joked.
“But if they don’t get in quickly they might miss out, we usually get 15 dozen eggs but only seven dozen have arrived. And we have two weddings on the island today and they are both coming down for breakfast.’’
The first runners are expected at the base of Mt Strzelecki at 1.30am.

Westbury-Mersey Pharmacy tries out its new sails pre-start today

Terry has reported being off Oyster Rocks in Franklin Sound, about one and a half hours away from Lady Barron. Phil is believed to be about 4km behind him. It is a fast crossing for the boats and runners should be on the road in the very early hours of Saturday morning. BWR Multihulls is in the leading group and Haphazard is the first monohull, about two hours behind the leaders.


Much of the fleet is closely bunched about 20 miles from the Sound.

A flight over the fleet revealed that Travers may have a slight edge over Marshall, but interestingly is setting a course a couple of miles further north than the fleet. The boats are on a tight reach and reports say there are 10 to 15 knots from the north-west. Haphazard has a large asymmetric set averaging 9 knots and hitting 12 at times.

Terry Travers' Westbury-Mersey Pharmacy passed Neil Buckby Motors Subaru at about 3.15pm, only half an hour after Marshall exited the heads.

Haphazard takes out 21st start

``The sailors don’t know their rules,’’ Three Peaks Race principal race officer Bob Silberberg said after most of the fleet re-started the 21st race unnecessarily this afternoon.
``The cannon wouldn’t light, but the flags are the signal – they always are in yacht racing. The canon is just for the crowd.’’
It was the first time an incident of that nature has happened in the race’s history.
Race veteran Nick Edmunds showed his experience to keep sailing despite the confusion, but was overtaken by defending champion Phil Marshall’s catamaran, Neil Buckby Motors Subaru, in the race to be first out of the Tamar River.
Marshall beat the fully-crewed monohull to the heads by about 500m, entering Bass Strait in a confused swell and 12-knot north-westerly.
BWR Multihulls showed it had something to prove this year, sailing out of the heads in third place, after being one of the last in 2008.
Dianne Barkas’ fully-crewed monohull Sullivans Cove Whisky was fourth turn east for Flinders Island. Racing multihull challenger Terry Travers came back from a disastrous start to be fifth out. He gave his main rival Marshall a lead of about a nautical mile but will hope to catch and pass Marshall in the 90nm to Flinders Island..
Another disastrous start was had by David Taylor’s monohull Pisces, which ran aground on the hazardous Shag Rock near Beauty Point. The Sydney 36 had to be laid over and towed off by a power boat.
The fleet is now on its way to Lady Barron on Flinders Island and should arrive in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Three Peaks Race veteran Nick Edmunds has shown his experience to take control of a confused start in the 21st race. Most of the fleet turned back when the starting canon failed to fire, but the start sequence flags lowered to show the race had got away to a clear start. The skipper of the 46-foot Radford monohull, Haphazard, did not turn back and has hugged the eastern side of the river, using an outgoing tide to take a commanding lead over his competitors.

Neck and neck in second but on opposite sides of the river are defending champion Phil Marshall  in his catamaran and Dianne Barkas at the helm of her Sydney 38.

Despite re-starting unnecessarily, Rob Gourlay's Thompson 920 got away quickly but was passed by bigger boats.

Main challenger Terry Travers in catamaran Westbury-Mersey Pharmacy was so slow to start that it waited for clear air behind the fleet.

Conditions are a 10 knot north-westerly sea-breeze, just like the previous 20 years.

 

This post brought to you from the deck of media boat Agro on the Tamar River, via the Telstra Next G network. Check out our webcam footage at www.threepeaks.org.au.

Interstate and international competitors have shown their passion for the Three Peaks Race this year, flying in from as far afield as New Zealand.
Former Tasmanian Adrian Young has travelled from Canterbury, NZ, to compete in his third race with Sullivans Cove Whisky. His running partner, Andrew Howse, is a Sydney-based Kiwi.
``I've never run further than 45km in my life, so I'm a bit nervous,'' Howse said.
``I've been doing quite a lot of sailing on a 28-footer in Sydney.''
Sydney-sider Brendan Davies (Apollonius) heard of the race through sporting magazine Alpha.
``It sounded great and I thought `I want to have a go at that','' the long-time runner said.
``I put my name on the Three Peaks website and one of the guys from a catamaran called me, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it on a cat - but I found myself a nice big boat to do it on.''
Tasmanian runner Grant Houniet also found himself a bigger boat, crewing for Victorian Charles Meredith for the second year but this time on a 46-foot cruising catamaran. He is so confident in his sailing ability that ``I even brought my own bucket this year’’. Houniet is hoping to put in his best run to date, with partner John Winsbury from Canberra, who is in incredible form, running 2hours20min marathons.
Sydney Morning Herald journalist Jim Nixon also flew in last night and couldn't speak highly enough of our ``iconic Tasmanian event''. He joins the Pisces crew for the fourth time with good friend and skipper David Taylor.

The boats are ready, the teams are briefed and, of course, the sun is shining for the 21st start of the Hydro Tasmania Three Peaks Race.
In keeping with race tradition, Good Friday has dawned fine and sunny with a light northerly breeze, despite forecast rain.
The conditions are perfect for the 15 B14 dinghies taking to the water for a short-course skiff racing demonstration, which will be watched by the 10,000 festival-goers at Inspection Head Wharf.
The festival kicked off at 10am, with spectators pouring through the gates to enjoy a day of food, wine, entertainment and activities and of course, the spectacle of the race start at 2pm.
Competitors enjoyed the welcome function at host club Port Dalrymple last night; the 13 teams of runners went through their compulsory gear check this morning before the official race briefing.
There are some nerves this morning, particularly among the first-time crew-members, but all are anticipating the race start.
Moderate westerlies are expected to push the fleet to Flinders Island overnight.