Ludde Ingvall’s super maxi CQS is to cross the Atlantic Ocean, instead of returning to Sydney for this year’s Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race. A change to shipping schedule meant that the boat could not get back to Australia in time to prepare properly for the race to Hobart.
This means she will miss “the clash of the titans” when the new Black Jack 100 (formerly the 2009 RSH winner Alpha Romeo), 2015 line honours winner Comanche and eight times line honours champion Wild Oats XI go head to head.
Ludde and his sponsor Sir Michael Hintze took the difficult decision to pull out of the Sydney Hobart, and instead enter the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Trans-Atlantic race from Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands to Grenada’s Port Louis.
Ludde commented, “The up-side of this change of schedule is that we will have the chance to help support the Caribbean communities devastated by the recent hurricane, by entering some of the events on their circuit.”
Sir Michael Hintze added, “It is regrettable that we have had to pull out of the Hobart, but this is also a great opportunity for us to put CQS through her paces in this long distance race over such a well-known route.”
CQS and her crew will do Malta’s Rolex Middle Seas Race, the last event on their European tour, then head to Lanzarote for the dash across the Atlantic, which starts 25th November.
The Rolex Middle Seas Race starts 21st October from Malta’s Grand Harbour, and takes the fleet north through the Straights of Messina, around the Stromboli volcano, then west along the north coast of Sicily, before turning south past Pantelleria and rounding at Lampedusa to return to Malta.
The schedule of events to be undertaken in the Caribbean has not yet been decided, but the CQS team are in contact with a number of regatta organisers with a view to doing those that can accommodate the boat and bring most benefit to the islands.
– John Roberson
