Tomorrow’s 31st annual Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race could well be dubbed the Race of the Octogenarians – with two yachtsmen now in their early 80s shaping up as rival skippers for a win in the 414 nautical mile ocean classic. 

Middle Harbour Yacht Club member John Walker,  81, will be skippering his Peterson 33, Impeccable, while 80-year-old CYCA member Peter Kurts will be in command of his Sparkman & Stephens-designed 47, Love and War.

Conducted by Gosford Sailing Club, the Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race starts from Broken Bay at 1pm next Saturday, 30 October. It is also a qualifying event for the 60th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Race in December and both  Walker and Kurts will again line up for that bluewater classic.

Both boats, their skippers and crews have excellent ocean racing records and could do well in the Lord Howe Island Race on corrected time, and later in the 20 Year and 30 Year Veteran Yacht Divisions of the 60th Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Whilst John Walker has been a regular competitor in recent Gosford to Lord Howe Island Races,  Peter Kurts, for most years over the past decade, has cruised single-handed across the Tasman Sea to Lord Howe Island aboard his beautiful timber yacht, Love and War.

Love and War, a Sparkman & Stephens-designed 14.2m sloop, has twice been Overall Winner of the Sydney Hobart on corrected time and has represented Australia at the Admiral’s Cup in England. 

In the 50th  Sydney Hobart, Love and War won the 20 Year Veteran Yacht Division and this year Kurts is aiming at winning the 30 Year Veteran Division.

Given moderate to fresh headwinds, the veteran yacht could take out IMS handicap honours in the Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race,  but there will be plenty of competition, including Impeccable and past winner Polaris of Belmont, now owned by Chris Dawe and racing under the burgee of the Gosford Sailing Club.

Impeccable, which this year will be competing in her 21st Sydney Hobart, earlier this year was IMS Overall winner of the Sydney Mooloolaba Race.

Both Love and War and Impeccable will be representing their clubs in the Teams Trophy for the Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race. Love and War will be in the CYCA II team along with Kioni (Christopher Townsend) and Occasional Coarse Language (Warwick Sherman). 

Impeccable will be joined in the MHYC team by Local Hero (Peter Mosely) and Inner Circle (Michael Graham).

The CYCA I team comprises Cadenza (Gunnar Tuisk),  Debonair (Eric Frank) and Team Lexus (Rupert Henry).  Other teams will represent Gosford Sailing Club, Sydney Amateur Sailing Club and RANSA.

Odds-on favourite for line honours is Sean Langman’s Open 66, AAPT,  following the late withdrawal of the Volvo 60, Andrew Short Marine.

Langman will sail the skiff-like 66-footer with a crew of only six and is looking for fast spinnaker sailing downwind to not only set a new time as the race course has been extended to 414 nautical miles but also smashing the record for the old record for the 408 mile course.

The race distance has been extended to send the fleet around a mark off Terrigal, some 10 nautical miles north of the starting line in Broken Bay, aimed at giving the public some great views of the fleet as the boats race north past McMasters Beach, First Point, Avoca Beach, the Skillion and Broken Head.

The large yellow spherical mark will be laid 0.4nm, or about 1km north-east of The Haven at the southern end of Terrigal Beach.   In fresh southerly winds, AAPT could reach the mark within 30 minutes of the 1pm start from Broken Bay. – Peter Campbell