Zulu Chief best by performance

Mooloolaba Yacht Club skipper David Simpson has sailed numerous nautical miles with his Kel Steinman designed sloop Zulu Chief to finally achieve a career best result in the Brisbane to Gladstone Race. His extensive knowledge of racing and cruising Zulu Chief in moderate to fresh winds paved the way for skipper Simpson and crew to win the Performance Handicap class in what proved to be a physically demanding 308 nautical mile race.

Zulu Chief’s designer has a proven history of drawing the lines of fast downwind sailing yachts and this was again revealed when the sloop now considered to be beyond her best completed the course with an 8.93 knot average to clinch her win over the speedy Mumm 30 RBS Morgan’s Immigrant and race host the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club Commodore Phil Lazzarini in Sassy while the former Gladstone race champion Corum finished a close fourth.

Skipper David Simpson and crew believed they were in good shape for a top performance when they cleared the Caloundra Fairway Buoy on Good Friday night and maintained a faster than normal average in the spinnaker sailing breeze when they tracked the course to Noosa Heads, then onto Double Island Point and beyond. However while they remained hopeful the Jeff Paul skippered Gladstone sloop RBS Morgan’s Immigrant continued to show her exceptional speed sailing ability to leave a white water wake streaming off her stern as she romped away outpacing a number of larger yachts.

The relatively small 9.2 metre sloop raced well above her size to regularly log speeds in excess of 15 knots to finish with an average speed of 9.52 knots. There was an element of confidence when Jeff Paul and crew docked. “I’ve sailed some fast Gladstone races but that’s the fastest”. Jeff Paul said. Their super fast average speed provisionally allowed RBS Morgan’s Immigrant to hold a tentative grip on the Performance Handicap trophy when she completed the course in 32 hours 21 minutes 19 seconds. However Jeff Paul remained apprehensive as his slower and lower handicapped rivals Zulu Chief, Sassy and Corum continued to produce a fast pace in a building breeze as they surfed the ground swell.

Time on the official race clock progressively ticked against Sassy and Corum leaving Zulu Chief as the only challenger to spoil the post race party for Jeff Paul and crew. The result to decide the Performance Handicap winner hung in the balance when Zulu Chief weathered Gatcombe Head on Easter Saturday night with the final 10 n/mls to sail. Zulu Chief eventually claimed a popular win for her Mooloolaba Yacht Club crew when she completed the course in 34 hours 30 minutes and 43 seconds which gave her a 5 minute 1 second corrected handicap advantage of .98 seconds per mile to claim the trophy ahead of RBS Morgan’s Immigarnt while Sassy finished another 1.06 seconds per mile in third place.