Yachting-Live

Rooklyn’s Record Chase
An older and more mature Warwick Rooklyn could add another major record to his impressive career log book during the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club 60th Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race over the Easter Weekend.

The Sydney blue water sailor is very familiar with the 308 nautical mile coastal passage race course and understands what it takes to drive a maxi at power sailing speed to break records.

Warwick Rooklyn was in the helming team on the spray drenched deck of the famed family owned Apollo in 1982 when she broke Helsal’s 1976 record by almost two hours.

He was also a key role maker when the Rod Muir skippered international champion maxi Windward Passage power sailed before squally spinnaker sailing winds to set the new benchmark at 28 hours 57 minutes 6 seconds in 1986.

The following Easter Warwick Rooklyn teamed up with the experienced New Zealand skipper Ed Askew on the former Whitbread Globe racing maxi Castaway Enterprise to post his career best Gladstone Race time of 27-31-52.

Understandably over the past 21 years the record has been taken into a new time zone by the lighter and more modern ocean racing sprint machines Bobsled and Grundig Xena with Grant Wharington’s Skandia setting the present best at 20 hours 24 minutes 50 seconds in 2004.

Warwick Rooklyn and his long term sailing mate Michael Spies firmly believe that records are only made to be broken and they will be in a record chasing mood when Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Matt Allen and his Ichi Ban crew enter their challenge against the 20 hour 15.49 knot barrier at 11 am on Good Friday.

Present weather conditions with a 25-33 knot South East breeze recorded at Cape Moreton last night (Monday) suggests the former Volvo Globe racer Ichi Ban will leave a white water wake to improve on her 2007 line honours winning time of 22 hours 20minutes 45 seconds.

Ichi Ban has the proven speed potential logging a peak speed of 33 knots during the 2007Audi Sydney to Southport race.

However while her crew remain as the favourite to win the Gladstone Pacific Nickel line honours trophy it will take a supreme fresh wind sailing performance to complete the course before 7-24-50 on Easter Saturday morning to allow Warwick Rooklyn to enter another Gladstone Race record in his log book. — Ian Grant

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 9:53 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.