XXXX Gold in the XXXX Gold Cup!

It rained, it blew, then there was nothing, then more rain and a few heart stopping squalls, but when the case of wine glasses were smashed to slitherines, we knew we had a bit on.

I spent the weekend racing in the XXXX Gold Cup which in it’s 21st year, is a major IRC yachting event for Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. I was lucky enough to be racing on the Nelson/Marek 46 “Quest of Queensland” owned by the Vice Commodore and his business partner. Even though we were the biggest yacht in the fleet the smaller yachts definitely kept us on our toes as we all eased into our positions on board. Everyone was doing everything. A crew of experts, which really creates an interesting racing environment!

The event began on Saturday morning at 1100 hours just east of Green Island. The passage race of the two day event took us the entire way around Moreton Bay back and forth and back again. We were pretty certain we had the race won on IRC as we were at least a leg in front of the other competitors. However we were wrong! The race was taken out of Saskia skippered to victory by Laurie Jenson by 30 seconds. But that didn’t matter, because we had an awesome race in oscillating pressure which went from the south west to south east and back again all while increasing to 20 knots then back down to 5. It was a race that kept the whole fleet thinking!

Day two saw the crew of Quest arrive at A/B row of the RQYS Marina a little worse for wear. The majority of the crew had been in attendance of a mutual friend’s 40th birthday celebration the night before and as they emerged from the backseats of cars and utes they looked more like a bag of dirty laundry than competitive yachtsman. But I was fresh faced, choosing to play the “kitten card” and leave early to ensure I had a good night sleep. (However phone calls and text messages at all hours of the morning stating how soft I was continued to annoy my peaceful slumber.)

Three round the cans races were held with the first being in consistent southerly pressure. Short sprint races, my favourite! The action on the start line was intense as skipper and crews new the positions they got out of the blocks in, would pretty much showcase their final placing in the race.

We had absolutely no idea how we placed in the races. It was always too close to guess. Even though line honours was always our fate, the challenging IRC placing was the focus, for that is how the ionic XXXX Gold Cup is awarded. The overall winner on IRC would take home the GOLD.

The much needed rain continued to fall. Even though I was grateful that Brisbane was finally receiving the moisture it deserved, I couldn’t help to be a little annoyed by the Gods choosing this weekend for the downpour. Last weekend whilst up at Mooloolaba for the Etchells Winter Championships it rained, the first time I had ventured to a regatta in weeks, and now again this weekend Mother Nature and the Gods conversed and decided to rain on our parade once more. But I guess it was nothing the Musto, Burke and Ronstan wet weather gear couldn’t handle.

As we made the final spinnaker drop (our best over the entire event) the XXXX cans were cracked open and the remaining wine glasses that escaped death were filled with champagne. For no apparent reason, but simply because it would have been rude not too! With no idea of our overall placing we made our way on the high tide back into the marina. The XXXX Gold Cup was over for another 12 months.

As I made my way back to the club, I took a right turn and headed to the sailing office. As soon as I opened the door my work colleagues shunted me away saying there was no way they were distributing the results to me. No matter how many bribes or offers were made, the final results were to remain a closed secret. (I took this as a good sign that we did alright!)

The Commodore made his speech congratulating the competitors and thanking the sponsors who make the event possible. With the shiny Gold Cup sitting on the trophy table we eagerly anticipated the final results…

But they haven’t been posted on the RQYS website as yet, so this story is to be continued!

(But if you use your head, it’s not too hard to guess the outcome!)