Quantum racing leads the DK 46s, but it was hairy

• NEWS
• 29 Dec, 2005 03:00:00 PM

Quantum racing leads the DK 46s, but it was hairy

Ray Roberts’ Quantum Racing was another boat to suffer steering failure at a particularly hairy moment of the race, driving downwind under a spinnaker stretched to breaking point with 30 knots of breeze inside it.

Ray Roberts’ Quantum Racing was another boat to suffer steering failure at a particularly hairy moment of the race, driving downwind under a spinnaker stretched to breaking point with 30 knots of breeze inside it.

At this critical time, a strop in the steering mechanism which had been chafing on a block beneath the transom of the boat, decided it had had enough.  It broke.

“That caused us to do a few 360 degree circles in the middle of Bass Strait,” Roberts said on his arrival in Hobart.

“We had 25 to 30 knots and wind and 18 knots of boat speed.

“We trashed the spinnaker and all we could do was pull the shreds back on the boat and get everything back together.

“We had to set up some temporary steering to get the boat back on course.

“It’s a bit disappointing but that’s Hobart racing for you - you have to be prepared to improvise if something breaks down.

“We probably lost 20 to 30 minutes but that’s not bad at all.

“We are more suited to hard upwind conditions and this was predominantly running and reaching the whole way.

“I thought our course rounding was pretty good as reaching and running is not what this hull form is meant for.

“That’s the luck of the game - you win some and you lose some. We lost, we had some bad luck.”

Roberts said the race had been a good test against the other two DK 46 design yachts in the fleet, Dekadence and Shogun.

“We could not have sailed a much better routed course than we did,” he said.