Mr Kite to add radical competition to 83rd Bruny Island Race

11:25 AM Thu 5 Feb 2009 GMT

'Mr Kite - Sydney Gold Coast Race 2006' Crosbie Lorimer

The canting keel 40-footer Mr Kite, owned by prominent Hobart yachtsman Andrew Hunn, is a late entry for this weekend's Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania's 83rd Bruny Island Race.

The 89 nautical mile race that circumnavigates the elongated island south of Hobart, is the oldest offshore/inshore yacht race in Australia, starts off Castray Esplanade at 9.30am on Saturday.

The nomination today of Mr Kite and Brian Fleming's Miss Conduct brings the fleet to 24, including six times rating winner Intrigue, Don Calvert's former Admiral's Cup team yacht, and recent Rolex Sydney Hobart Race competitors Pisces (David Taylor), Valheru (Tony Lyall), She's the Culprit (Tod Leary) and Helsal III (Rob Fisher).

Last year's IRC winner Asylum, the Sydney 38 skippered by Dianne Barkas, the first woman to skipper a winner of the Bruny Island Race in its 111 year history, is also entered.

Other recently successful entries include Creese Property (David Creese), Marineline/Focal (Garry Smith), Host Plus Executive (Jeff Cordell) and Creative Intention (David Rees).

Although owned since her launching in 2006 by Andrew Hunn, a successful one-design and Olympic class sailor, this will be the first time the radical Mr Kite has raced in Tasmanian waters.

She was forced out of the 2006 Sydney Hobart because of problems with the canting keel and last December had to miss the Launceston to Hobart Race when she suffered steering damage on the delivery trip from Sydney.

However, her wins include the 40 feet and under division of the 2007 Sydney to Southport Race.

Described by designer Andrew Buckland as a 'mini Volvo 70', the carbon fibre Mr Kite has a canting keel with dagger boards, has furling reaching jibs and carries huge asymmetric spinnakers downwind.

According to Buckland, the boat can sail downwind in 30 knots under spinnaker at speeds of 20 knots with just one hand on the tiller.

Depending on the course signalled from the RYCT starting box on Castray Esplanade the 24 boat fleet will race down the Derwent then either sail straight out of the river past the Iron Pot and down the ocean side of Bruny Island to round Tasman Head and Cape Bruny before entering d'Entrecasteaux Channel and then sailing up the inshore passage back to the Derwent and Hobart - or the reverse course.

The Bruny Island Race is a demanding combination of ocean and shire racing, with a great range of offshore winds and seas in Storm Bay and, inshore, the currents and tides and flukey breezes of the winding reached of the Channel.

Either way, the fleet will sail past historic landmarks, including Adventure Bay where many famous early navigators anchored and waters during their voyages of exploration.

The list of past winners of the Bruny Island Race reads like a history of yacht racing, not only in Tasmania, but also its influence on the sport nationally.