Here’s a huge shout out to all the Southport Yacht Club yachts and crew who started in this years Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race

What an amazing race it was, super challenging, very tough and one of the races where just finishing is tough enough, let alone placing in the ranks.

I heard it from several people that this race was like a mini Sydney to Hobart. A bit of a drag race out of Moreton Bay, into some moderately heavy upwind sailing up along the coast. Storm fronts coming through at intervals, with some pretty severe wind, rain and even hail. It was definitely a case of being in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

On Yeah Baby Racing SYC we sailed between the two big storms along the Sunshine Coast on the first night, but only by a fraction. A large group of yachts only a few miles behind us got spanked.

The headwind built steadily into the night and the seastate was wild and messy. Heavy tacking with short seas made for a lot of pounding and strains on the boats. No doubt many sail changes along the way.

It was a wild ride. If ever you were going to break something on the boat, or lose crew to seasickness, these were the conditions that would test everyone.

It continued overnight and into Saturday working our way up the coast to the top for Fraser Island. It seems to go on forever, and once you clear the top, it’s another several hours to get over break-sea spit. The seastate along here is just nasty. On Yeah Baby, a 50ft solid boat it’s was crap, I can only imagine it on some of the smaller, lighter boats.

For some of the boats who retired before reaching here, due to very sick crew, don’t worry, good call, it definitely wasn’t getting any better.

After what seamed like forever we finally reached the Breaksea light and turn left towards Lady Elliott. This was a good run for us and we had quite a few other boats around us.

We had issues with our main sail and main halyard so several times we had to stop, drop the main onto the deck and re hoist back into the track. Allowing a couple of boats to catch or pass us again. Then it would be on again, we would chase them down pass a couple again and keep racing.

From Lady Elliot across the paddock to the S2 entrance to Gladstone was an amazing sail. With the sunrise from behind and a solid breeze the call was to tack south first, or stay on and get north of the rumb line. Looking back at the tracker it was hard to see which one was favored but many boats split the course.

We reached the entrance to Gladstone river early morning with a handful of other boats around us. And just like the Derwent, the breeze died and the river shut down. It was a mad task of navigating the multiple navigation markers and marks of the course up the creek, it was a real challenge. Looking at boats behind and in front constantly seeing whether they were getting bigger or smaller on different sides of the creek, finding or loosing breeze as they went. Our timing was very lucky to get there with an incoming tide of nearly 2 knots. But that wasn’t going to last long. If we didn’t get to the finish line before the tide change, then maybe we’d need the anchor. (We had it ready)

We battled the light breezes half way up for a few hours until eventually we got a puff from the SW, enough to get us moving, roll out the Code 0 and with some great match type racing with a couple other boats we finally finished the race by half a boat length to one of our other competitors. 48 hours and 14 seconds of some incredible sailing and racing.

It was right on high tide now with a group of about 20 boats just hitting the start of the creek. They’ll be pushing current and light airs all day to get to the line.

With the race over we headed into the marina to plenty of cheers from other boats. They all knew what everyone had been through to get there. Just like Constitution dock in Hobart the cheering and welcomes continued all day as boats come in after finishing the race.

After a big lunch, several beers and wine it was back to the boat to clean up. If anyone’s been on a race yacht in rough conditions for a few days you know what an absolute cesspit of unimaginable horrors lurk in the bilges and literally every corner and crevice of the boat. It should be full on hazmat suits, but F it, roll up the sleeves, jobs on.

With the boat semi tidy and a lot less stinky, ready for the delivery home and many stories on the dock with other boats and crews who’ve come in during the day, it’s time to head to the Gladstone sailing club for the party. Much like Customs house in Hobart the drinks flow freely and the war stories continue between all the sailors. The bar staff soon look exhausted as the big orders flow steady. ‘16 rum and cokes, 12 coronas and 5 gin and tonic’s please’, pretty standard shout out at the bar.

The one thing about yacht racing which is amazing is the mate ship between all the different sailors from all over the country. Everyone knows someone and everyone’s sailed with someone else, somewhere else over the years and quite often they have known each other for many many years but only ever see each other at a bar in a yacht club somewhere at the end of a race. It’s such a cool sport in this way.

Everyone vows to have a huge night out, party till dawn and celebrate the race, but as the booze flows, the fatigue sets in and the eyes start hangin out of people’s heads, the smoke bombing starts. Slowly people do a sneaky run off and head back to wherever to crash and try and get some sleep before life goes back to normal the next day.

To the boats that finished the race, well done, amazing effort and achievement, to the boats who didn’t finish, for whatever reason, well done, amazing effort and achievement as well. There’s no judgment or criticism to any boat for any reason. As, unless you’re there on the boat in the moment, there’s never a bad call. Just the right call for the time and moment.

To the organizers of the Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race, a huge shout out and thanks for what is undoubtedly ‘one of the best’ offshore races in at least Australia if not wider. The vibe in Gladstone is amazing, this city opens up to the sailors in a fantastic way.

To my awesome race crew on Yeah Baby I would like to say a huge thanks for the amazing ride. Not just this race, but for the whole last year. To Andy Lamont a massive thanks for an amazing campaign and awesome year. You’ve put together an awesome boat, a rock star crew of so many incredible people all of who’ve helped make this last year of yacht racing such an incredible time.

As my last race on Yeah Baby (hmmm… we’ll see) we’ve all made lifelong friends, many who we may only ever see again at a bar at the end of a race somewhere. And many who we will race with, against or alongside week in and week out in the coming year.

For me, it’s onto my own boat now and looking forward to building Makani Sailing Team and being on the start line of this awesome race in 2024.

Cheers all

_{Words by Barry Berg}