Fremantle to Canarvon - Optimus Prime leads the way
OPTIMUS PRIME LEADS THE WAY TO CARNARVON
25thApril 2008.
By John Roberson
A good start and some slick crew work saw Trevor Taylor's Optimus Prime lead the small but select fleet up the coast from Fremantle onthe race to Carnarvon this afternoon.
However the smaller, but equally well sailed Steel de Breeze in the hands of Brian de Vries was close on the transom of the brand new Optimus Prime, pushing her larger and newer rival as they passed Cottesloe onthe way north.
Conditions for the start were benign, with a patchy east to south east breeze that struggled to produce gusts of 10 knots, and no more than a long gentle swell disturbing the ocean.
Most of the nine boats in the racing division flew spinnakers for the short dash from the starting line off Fremantle Sailing Clubto the navigations marks off the entrance to the Swan River, but then hurriedly dropped them as they hardened up for the leg to Campbell mark off Cottesloe.
The colourful spinnakers were re-hoisted once the fleet rounded this mark and skirted the military exclusion zone off Swanbourne, with the next compulsory course limit to stay between the Abrohlos Islands and thecoast.
The course then takes the fleet around the northern end of Dirk Hartog Island, and into Carnarvon, a total of 472 nautical miles, with the first boats expected to finish late on Sunday, or early Monday.
Weather forecasts currently promise more of the same in the way of winds for the next 48 hours, giving the crews what should be a comfortable ride up the coast.
