Valheru sailing in Maria Island Race Alastair Douglas

Line honours and provisional first place on IRC corrected time went to Bellerive Yacht Club member David Creese with his recently acquired Sydney 38 Creese Property, the former Sydney yacht Transfusion, with Rolex Sydney Hobart entrants She’s the Culprit and Pisces placing second and third. 

She’s the Culprit, a Jones 39 skippered by offshore racing newcomer Todd Leary, also from Bellerive Yacht Club,  sailed an impressive race to also finish second across the line in the 190 nautical mile race to Maria Island, off Tasmania’s rugged East Coast. 

She crossed only eight minutes astern of Creese Properties and was narrowly  beaten on IRC corrected time for first place.
Pisces, David Taylor and Graham McKibben’s modified Sydney 36,  finished seventh in the 20 boat fleet and on handicap placed third.

The Maria Island Race saw the return to ocean racing of Tony Lyall’s Elliott 13 Valheru, nearly six years after a damaging collision with a French yacht soon after the start of the 2002 Sydney Hobart.  A large hole in her hull forced the Tasmanian boat to retire, with crewman Peter Fletcher knocked overboard but quickly rescued.

Following a protracted insurance settlement, Valheru has been rebuilt by shipwright Peter Milner and has a new rig designed by Fred Barratt.  She also has a new hull colour.

In the Maria Island Race,  Lyall sailed a conservative race in the fresh to strong winds, crossing the line in third place, only two minutes astern of She’s the Culprit.

The race started from Castray Esplanade on Friday evening in light winds, but once they crossed Storm Bay and rounded Tasman Island the fleet enjoyed a fast spinnaker run north to Maria Island.

The southerly winds freshened to 25-30 knots for the 50 nm beat to windward back south to Tasman Island, with four boats electing to retire.  Once they rounded Tasman, however, it was a fast spinnaker reach back across Storm Bay and up the Derwent River, with the first five boats finishing between 8 and 9pm on Saturday evening.

Other Rolex Sydney Hobart entrants which used the Maria Island Race as their qualifier were Helsal IV, skippered by Sally Smith, daughter of owner Dr Tony Fisher, which crossed the line in tenth place, and the Traditional 30 Nest Property, skippered by Murray Wilkes which was last boat to finish the tough race, crossing the line last on Sunday morning. – Peter Campbell