5:31 AM Sun 15 Nov 2009 GMT
The Tasports Maria Island Yacht Race next weekend will be a full-on start to a campaign by a team of Hobart sailors and endurance athletes to compete in both the Tasmanian and the British Three Peaks Races, the world's most
challenging combinations of offshore yacht racing and mountain running.
After competing in the 190 nautical mile ocean race from Hobart to Maria Island and return, the team's runners will then contest the Point to Pinnacle run to the top of Mount Wellington.
Team Whistler will be the first Tasmanian team to compete in both events, the Hydro Tasmanian Three Peaks next Easter and the British event in June next year, sailing their yacht Whistler here and then chartering the winning
yacht from this year's British Three Peaks.
The Tasports Maria Island Race starts from Castray Esplanade next Friday evening at 7pm with a fleet of more than 20 boats expected, most of them using the race as a qualifier for this year's Rolex Sydney Hobart and Sargisons Launceston to Hobart Races in late December.
However, Team Whistler will be in Three Peaks mode, taking only three sailors, skipper David Rees, Tim Jones and Jory Linscott, all members of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, and two runners, Jacqui Guy and Michael McIntyre. The 2010 Tasmanian Three Peaks will be Guy's 12th, more than any other woman.
The Tasmanian Three Peaks, starting from Beauty and ending in Hobart with a climb of Mount Wellington involves 335 nautical miles of sailing, 133 kilometres of running and 2646 metres of ascent. The British event starts from Barmouth in Wales and ends with a climb of Ben Nevis in Scotland, involving 389 nm of sailing, 72 miles of running and 14,000 feet of ascent.
Whistler, an 11-metre yacht designed by Australian naval architect Andy Dovell, has an excellent offshore racing record, including winning the Battery Point Trophy for first boat under 11m in the 2006 Sydney Hobart. The team's chartered yacht in the UK is a Reflex 38, a two-times winning boat in the British Three Peaks.
Whistler also has won the PHS divisions of the 2005 Maria Island Race and Sailing South Race Week and the crew is confident to doing well again in next weekend's Maria Island Race.
The strong fleet will include David Creese's newly acquired DK 46 Dekadence having its first race in southern Tasmanian waters and the return to racing of Tony Lyall's Valheru after modifications to improve the yacht's light
weather performance.
Both Dekadence and Valheru are entrants for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, as are others in Maria Island Race fleet including Archie, Auch, She's the Culprit, Helsal III and Helsal IV.
The Tasports Maria Island Race will start off Castray Esplanade at 1900 hours next Friday, 20 November.
by Peter Campbell
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