A phone call from skipper John Fletcher off the NSW coast brought us up to date with things aboard his Adams 16.4, Utopia 2001 as they head to Melbourne. At the time they were positioned about half way between Pt Hicks and Gabo Island after the non-stop run from Mooloolaba 4 days before and expected the trip to SYC to take a couple more days.
The forecast had been for favorable winds on the journey but John said that what had been predicted and what had actually happened were quite different – it’d been very light. In any case John and co-skipper Steve Evans had settled into their double-hand routine and they were really pleased with how the boat had performed.
John has owned Utopia 2001 for around 25 years and has sailed her extensively, mainly with mates but there’s not been a lot of double handed sailing. However he and Steve have been clocking up the miles since they decided to do the Sundance Marine Melbourne Osaka Cup together, with their qualifying trip being the Mooloolaba to Townsville.
Earlier this year they did the Brisbane to Gladstone race and prior to that event, a lot of work had been done with pretty much a total strip down of much of the boat. Old perspex windows were removed and replaced with toughened glass, there was a major re-wire and new electrics fitted, a water maker installed and new sails added. The guys say that since then, there’s been no issues with the boat at all, although on this latest trip, the shower suddenly stopped working!
Life aboard Utopia 2001 on this delivery trip doesn’t seem to be all that harsh tough judging from the photos. In one shot we see John showing off something freshly baked out of the oven and the other shot was labelled “Flying Fish for Breakfast- Yum!”
Once in Melbourne John and Steve will be preparing for their next double handed event, the Melbourne to Hobart West Coaster. Along with quite a number of other Osaka Cup competitors, they’ll have just under two weeks to get things ready before the start on December 27th.
