Wide Load heads north

WATCH out Hamilton Island Race Week – there’s a Wide Load on its way.
Noosa couple Elaine Williams and Alan McClintock and their local crew (apart from one ring in from Canberra) are set to take their Young 11 cruising-racing yacht north to compete in the Cruising Spinnaker Division at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week which starts on 15 August.
The plan to take the yacht – named Wide Load because of its considerable beam – north to Hamilton Island began on New Year’s Eve when the couple bought the boat. With the 11-metre long yacht race-ready, Elaine, who works at the local RSL, recently lodged their entry – the yacht drawing plenty of interest after becoming the 100th yacht on the impressive list of competitors for Australia’s premier offshore series.
The Noosa-based couple are sailing tragics and can be regularly found on the Noosa River – racing small boat on the River in competition each Wednesday evening, while on weekends they sail Wide Load on the expansive, open waters of Moreton Bay.
Since purchasing the well-known 18-year-old Wide Load, they have added a few creature comforts to the interior and modified the cockpit to make her more comfortable for cruising, with the ultimate aim to compete in the Cruising Spinnaker Division at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
Alan McClintock will be doing his fifth Race Week this year, but it wasn’t until Elaine sailed in the tropical regatta for the first time last year that the couple decided they needed a boat of their own so they could compete in 2015.
Elaine, who described Audi Hamilton Island Race Week as “the best regatta imaginable”, said that as well as enjoying racing and cruising around the Whitsunday Islands this year, they were looking forward to the coastal cruise north from Brisbane. She and Alan are convinced that Wide Load will serve them well both cruising and racing.
“We have a fun crew comprising an interesting cross-section of friends,” Elaine said.
“Doug Ritchie, who hails from Canberra and lives is a castle on the banks of Lake Burley-Griffin, is certainly a colourful character.
“But it’s Lindsay Atherton who is causing us the most concern right now.
“She is an Australian working at an oil rig in Kazakhstan, which is seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
“The only travel opportunity she has to get back to Australia sees her arriving the day before we are due to leave Brisbane… we just hope she makes it in time.”