CYCA Commodore Matt Allen and his defending champion Ichi Ban have taken line honours in the 60th Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race.

Skipper Allen and his crew sailed the modified Volvo 70  to a comfortable line honours victory, finishing at 10.34am (AEST) today with an elapsed time of in 23 hours 25 minutes and 50 seconds.
The battle continued at sea until early afternoon for second and third across the line between two other CYCA boats,  Ray Roberts’ Cookson 50 Quantum Racing which finished at 1.11pm and Graeme Wood’s TP 52 Wot Yot which crossed the line at 2.46pm.The Sydney-based yacht’s main rival,  Spirit of Queensland retired soon after the start with a broken mast.
Light winds and a slow passage out of Moreton Bay on Friday afternoon ruined Ichi Ban’s hopes of beating the race record of 20 hours 24 minutes and 50 seconds set by Skandia in 2004.
“It would have been a good race with them (Spirit of Queensland) and we were hoping to just break the record which was our aim for the race,” Allen told ABC radio.
Ichi Ban overcame light winds in Moreton Bay to sail into a perfect 15 to 20 knot spinnaker sailing breeze to sail the final 200 nautical miles above the required record average of 15.09 knots.
Provisional IRC handicap leader on the water is the Brisbane yacht Argus skippered by Colin Kimmorley and sailing its first major ocean race in a decade. AAP/Peter Campbell