Brutal seas claim 75th Brisbane-Gladstone as Celestial limps home

The 75th Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race will be remembered as one of the cruelest ever contested, after a fleet battered by northerly gales, waterspouts and violent storm cells limped across the finish line over four days of raw conditions that left crews injured, boats damaged and nine yachts with no finish at all.

Celestial, skippered by Dr Sam Haynes, crossed the Gladstone Harbour finish line at dawn on Sunday to claim line honours—a vindication of the 2022 Sydney-to-Hobart overall champion after a race that tested man and machine in equal measure. The yacht took 1 day, 19 hours and 30 minutes to complete the course, nearly doubling the time it spent on the water when it set the record for the fastest conventionally ballasted boat the previous year.

The conditions that degraded the pace were relentless. Haynes described the weather as a "washing machine," with squalls hammering the fleet and a waterspout sighted drifting alongside near Indian Head. Constant sail changes and improvised tactics were the only way through. One of Celestial's crew paid a heavy price for the struggle—medics were waiting on the dock to treat a sailor with suspected shoulder and rib injuries sustained while working aloft on a halyard problem during the worst of it.

The brutality had already thinned the fleet by the time Celestial crossed. Eight boats retired in a single night after running through two severe storm cells, their crews overwhelmed by seasickness or damage too grave to continue. The haemorrhaging continued as the stragglers fought toward Gladstone: Indigo II limped almost to the finish before a torn mainsail forced a last-minute retirement, bringing the total number of non-finishers to nine—a stark toll for a 75-boat fleet.

Those who pressed on faced extraordinary hazards. Celeste was struck by lightning on Good Friday evening, knocking out all electronics in a single strike. Rather than retire, the crew navigated on VHF and satellite radio for the remainder of the race. Hutchies Yeah Baby battled a mainsail failure at sunset but managed to retrieve it and keep racing.

The winners on line honours were Celestial and the historic arrival of Ocean Crusaders J-Bird III, the first fully electric boat to finish the race, helmed by Annika Thomson. Yet the overall prize remained unsettled as the fleet trickled in: Maritimo 11 held the lead on corrected time, a margin that could yet be overturned by smaller, slower yachts still racing. The finish will not be decided until the last boat crosses.

Ian Gidlow, Commodore of the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club, acknowledged the historic severity. "This year's race fleet will go down in history as having had to overcome everything from the calm to the storm and everything in between," he said. For the sailors who weathered it, the 75th edition of Australia's oldest offshore race had proven itself among the most demanding in the event's storied run.