Eastern Morning

The Yacht's Story

From Daniel Hains (April 2001)

The 2001 Quin's Bluewater Classic from Adelaide to Port Lincoln was our first offshore event after a few years round the cans races at the CYCSA. We are in cruising rig. The dingy fits nicely between the mast and a detachable inner forestay on which I use a No. 4 jib as staysail. The mainsheet traveler is forward of the dodger to keep the cockpit clear and the traveler controls are led back to the cockpit. The crane on the transom makes transferring the out-board motor very simple. We have a new Yanmar 3 cylinder 27hp engine which gives us hull speed in smooth water at 2000 rpm, using 2L/hour.
We started in the Cruising division with four crew for the 150nm journey. At the start we had a complete "flatty" and just drifted across the line but an hour later up came the sea breeze from the SE and we flew down to Marion reef at the bottom of Yorke Peninsula. Here the breeze freshened to 25 knots still from the SE and we were at hull speed on a broad reach all night, with full genoa ( No.2) and a single reef in the mainsail, surfing at up to nine knots at times. As we reached Spencer Gulf the sun came up and we had a spinnaker run into Port Lincoln, again finishing in a zephyr.
We were delighted to get a second on handicap with an average speed of just on 6 knots for the trip. The Port Lincoln Yacht Club was very hospitable and the area is a cruising paradise.
The yacht performed superbly as we had expected in view of the illustrious pedigree of the design. We-have had a great deal of pleasure cruising her in St Vincent Gulf, mostly to Ports on the western shore including St Vincent, Stansbury and Edithburgh.

About the Owners

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