Iconic race reaches milestone

The Notice to Race as been issued for one of the southern hemisphere’s most iconic offshore events – the 75^thBrisbane to Gladstone (B2G) Yacht Race.

A huge fleet is expected on Good Friday (April 7, 2023) for this historic edition of the B2G which starts at Shorncliffe and follows the Moreton Bay Region’s coastline.

To commemorate the anniversary, official timekeeper ADINA Watches will give the skipper and crew of the Overall IRC winning yacht a specially designed B2G winners’ watch.

Skipper of the Line Honours winning yacht will also receive one of the exclusive watches.

Believed to be the largest monetary prize in Australian sailing, overall winner of the Performance Handicap Rating Factor division will get the Peter Holm Cup and $10,000 cash.

The B2G, over 308 nautical miles and sponsored by Gladstone Ports Corporation, saw multiple race records tumble last year.

Peter Harburg’s super maxi 100 foot Black Jack took line honours beating its own record of 16 hours, 53 minutes and 57 seconds, set in 2018, with 16 hours, 13 minutes and 56 seconds.

Three yachts named Black Jack – all owned by Peter Harburg - have taken line honours eight times since 2008 – Black Jack 66 (2009, 2010), Black Jack 77 (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) and Black Jack 100 (2018, 2022).

Celestial – owned by Dr Sam Haynes – set a record for a conventionally ballasted yacht, completing the race in 19 hours 24 minutes and 52 seconds.

Ichi Ban won the race overall on corrected time and took The Courier-Mail Cup, which dates back to 1949 and is one of the oldest perpetual trophies in Australia.

Ian Gidlow, Commodore of race organising club, Queensland Cruising Yacht Club (QCYC) says the B2G is steeped in tradition and remains a blue water ocean classics in the southern hemisphere.

“The race has all the hallmarks of a great passage race,” Mr Gidlow said. 

“A demanding exit from the bay under pressure from the tide clock, a fast slide up the coast in the dark, a high pressure run into sub-tropical waters and inevitably an intense and often unpredictable finish.”

The B2G start is live streamed and combined with Yacht Tracker and the virtual race is followed by ore than 100,000 globally.

B2G was first sailed in Easter 1949 with seven vessels on the start line, two carried radios while Brisbane’s Homing Pigeon Club supplied pigeons for the other competing vessels.

For more on the B2G click here, phone QCYC Vice Commodore Harley Cowlishaw 0437 729 642 or email [email protected]

B2G is on Facebook at facebook.com/brisbanetogladstone and Instagram at @brisbane2gladstoneyachtrace