Black Jack's clean sweep in Brisbane Keppel race
Peter Harburg's Black Jack completed a successful Queensland ocean racing debut with a dominating light wind sailing performance in the 348 n/ml Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel race. 
'Black Jack - Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel'
Suellen Hurling ©
The former American owned 20.3m mini-maxi skippered by 2007 BMW Oracle Americas Cup sailor Mark Bradford overcame a heavy commitment of numerous sail and course direction changes to average an amazing 10.48 knots.
This exceptionally impressive performance in an unstable coastal weather pattern set the required pace to allow Black Jack to record one of the most convincing wins ever recorded in Queensland ocean racing.
Skipper Mark Bradford and main/trimmer Vaughan Prentice business partners in the successful North Sails Queensland sail making loft combined their skill with a talented team including the equally skilled Peter Merrington (Sydney), Graham Taylor (Melbourne) and Craig Monk (New Zealand) to win the first to finish trophy by a commanding 8 hour 34 minute 50 seconds over the Peter Goldsworthy helmed defending line honours title holder Getaway-Sailing.com.
The crew of Black Jack only knew each other by name when they stowed their sea bags on board last Saturday morning however it soon became evident they were mastering the initial lessons in a steep learning curve when Black Jack firmed control of the line honours title when she established an almost over the horizon type lead in the first 100 nautical miles.
This margin was progressively extended allowing Black Jack with a chance to outpace her high 1.612 handicap correction factor.
Her crew completely mastered their first serious ocean racing test with honours and enjoyed a post race celebration when Race Director Denis Thompson released the provisional results last night.
The announcement which will be officially confirmed at the presentation of awards at 11am today suggest that proud owner Peter Harburg will need to buy a new trophy cabinet to showcase his 'triple treat' including the line honours, IRC and Performance handicap trophies.
Provisional Results (Top 3). Line Honours: Black Jack (Mark Bradford, Qld) 1-09-13-13 1, Getaway-Sailing.com (Peter Goldsworthy, NSW) 1-17-48-03 2, Bribie Star (Peter Sherwood, Qld) 1-22-49-49 3.
IRC: Black Jack 2-05-33-04 1, Bribie Star 2-07-40-52 2, Wedgetail (Bill Wild, Qld) 2-08-38-56. PHS: Black Jack 2-05-09-09 1, Bribie Star 2-07-29-38 2, Wedgetail 2-09-12-42.
by Ian Grant 
