Gladstone Ports Corporation Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race Trophy Presentation

Gladstone Regional Council, Mayor, Councillor Matt Burnett; Queensland Cruising Yacht Club Commodore David Hamilton and QCYC Port Sailing Club Commodore Ian Williams; Gladstone Port Corporation CEO Mr Andrew Johnson; Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race competitors and officials, and of course the winners in all categories; members of the wider yachting community; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands on which we are gathered, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people here this morning.

Good morning, everyone — thank you for such a warm welcome.

Graeme and I are delighted to be here in Gladstone for this morning’s trophy presentation, and I am especially pleased and proud to be the first Queensland Governor in the 78-year history of this race to join the sailing community in Gladstone for the finish.

Until this year, the closest any of my 11 predecessors got to the Port Curtis Sailing Club at Easter was in 1953 when the Aide de Camp of the then Governor, Sir John Lavarack, served as second-in-command on the former mine-disposal vessel used as ‘mother ship’ to the 10 yachts in the race that year!

I am unfortunately a lifelong landlubber but Graeme has enjoyed many a Wednesday afternoon with the WAGS fleet on Moreton Bay since he first sailed sabots on the Brisbane River as a boy.

And for the past five B2G races he has been thrilled to be on board the Starter Boats Mohokoi and South Pacific in Moreton Bay, off the Shorncliffe headland, for the start.

Despite my preference for dry land, I am absolutely in awe of the men and women who take to the open ocean in racing yachts and I take this opportunity to congratulate you all and to commend the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club and the Multihull Yacht Club of Queensland on their impeccable organisation of this year’s race.

I also thank the Gladstone Ports Corporation, Gladstone Regional Council, and the other dedicated sponsors, supporters and prize donors for their continued generosity and commitment to this event.

They follow in the marvellous example set in 1949 when a cyclone hit Gladstone just before the scheduled start of the very first race. The response of the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club was to invoke the unwritten law of the sea to declare Gladstone ‘a boat in distress’ and donate all race funds to the stricken city.  

That first race went ahead despite the cyclone, and only the COVID pandemic since has been able to stop it, but I am very aware of the pressures that this sport is under, from the rising incidence of extreme weather to greater costs, increased regulation and crew shortages, but I hope you will all take heart from the fact that the lack of crews was identified as an issue from the very first race in 1949, and that Race Rules no longer require yachts to carry a ‘substantial wooden dinghy’.

The B2G will become increasingly important over the next six years as attention turns to Queensland’s first Olympic Games. The superb facilities and opportunities for sailing all the way up the Queensland coast, including here at Port Curtis, are already known to sailors around the world, and Queenslanders look forward to welcoming them here in substantial numbers in 2032.

This year’s race has brought together competitors from almost a dozen yacht clubs from Queensland, New South Wales and New Zealand and, while every sailor has his or her own race, you all share the sense of achievement and satisfaction in completing the B2G, and you know that the sound of the finish gun signifies not just the end of a journey of 308 nautical miles, but the triumph of your skill, endurance, and determination, and the power of teamwork.

Well done! And congratulations to you all once again on a race well sailed.