Sailors love chocolate
March 17th, 2008
By Stripey Grant
Blue water racing yachtsman Darren Hutchison will personally log 7,808 nautical miles of Brisbane to Gladstone ocean racing when the high performance Brisbane sloop Wedgetail completes the 308n/ml classic over the Easter Weekend.
Hutchison first entered the demanding sport as a 17 year old crewing for Queensland Cruising Yacht Club skipper Neville Watts on Fleetwood finishing 10th in the Performance Handicap class with an elapsed course time 41 hours 7 minutes 15 seconds.
‘It was a while ago but I have vivid memories of the race it was rough and windy’ he said.
He is looking forward to packing his sea-bag for the 26th time when he joins the crew of the sensationally fast Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron sloop Wedgetail which is a major contender to win the historical 60 year old race trophy The Courier Mail Cup.
The quietly spoken Darren Hutchinson now regarded as one of the most dedicated and skilled sail trimmers in the sport has reluctantly confessed to being a chocoholic.
‘Yes chocolate is a favourite of mine and I will stash a nice selection in the sea-bag, it’s a great energy booster besides being simple to prepare when you’re hungry’.
Darren Hutchison is no softie he has done the hard miles and has the career distinction of being on the spray drenched deck of Wedgetail eating his share of chocolate when the 12.8m sloop sailed into Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race history completing the physically tough 628 n/ml course with an impressively fast 9.1 knot average in 2005.
Sure there will be the odd chocolate Easter Bunny in the rations locker when Wedgetail races against her 64 rivals in what promises to be another highly contested ocean race leaving all crews with little time to eat or sleep.
However the Wedgetail crew who won the Brisbane to Great Keppel Island race last August are well prepared adding some new spinnakers to the sail locker for what is promising to be a sprint before gusty 15-25knot trade winds.
They will need a consistently strong breeze to build a corrected handicap separation over the equally fancied Quantum Racing, Saltash II, Pagan, Oceanburo and the 2006 champion Corum.
‘Wedgetail performs well in fresh winds and a forecast around 20-25 knots would be just perfect’ Hutchison said.
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