Queensland big-boat skipper Rod Jones, will use Mooloolaba’s newest sailing event, the Mooloolaba 200, as his qualifying race for this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The event is being organised and run by Mooloolaba Yacht Club on the weekend of 5th and 6th October 2013.

The organising authority of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), confirmed earlier this week that the Rod Jones’s Welbourne 50, Audi Centre Sunshine Coast Alegria V, will be able to use his participation in the Mooloolaba 200 Offshore Classic as the boat’s qualifying race.

The CYCA requires yachts entering the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race to compete in an approved qualifying race within a six month period prior to the blue water classic as outlined in the Notice of Race. There are several  races that a boat can use as their qualifying passage and include Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race and the CYCA’s Cabbage Tree Island Race, to be conducted in November. The scheduling of the Mooloolaba 200 on the October long-weekend fits within the required time frame and the 200 nautical mile distance complies with the acceptable qualifying distance under the Notice of Race.

Jones’s team most recently won Division 1 IRC and ORCi in the CYCA's 384 nautical mile Sydney Gold Coast Race. His team are now focusing on their final preparations for a successful Sydney Hobart campaign which includes participating in the Mooloolaba 200.

“I'm really excited by this new 200 mile offshore race. As part of our preparation with our Audi Centre Sunshine Coast Alegria V team, for this year’s Sydney to Hobart we need to get as many quality offshore race miles under our belt as we can.

“Now that the Audi Centre Sunshine Coast Mooloolaba 200 Offshore Race has been accepted by CYCA as a qualifier for the Sydney to Hobart, we can tick that box as well. With a course designed to test all points of sailing, not just the typical point and send race we so often do, the Mooloolaba 200 mirrors in some small way, the test of the Hobart. Of course it will be much warmer at the finish though.

“October promises thermal winds through the afternoon and gradient in the mornings and evenings, so the course will challenge tactically. Fingers crossed this new race will become a must-do for our Queensland offshore racers, and hopefully it will also become a must-do for yachts from down south, looking to add a race with a challenge to their log books,” Jones said.

Mooloolaba 200 incorporates both offshore and inshore events.

Performance monohulls and multihulls will compete in the offshore event. They will race in the 200 nautical mile Offshore Classic designed to test different points of sailing.

Cruising monohulls and multihulls, sports boats, trailables and SB20s will compete on inshore courses. These divisions will be will be racing on both passage and windward/leeward courses.

The Offshore Classic race fleet will head out on Saturday 5th October to head north from Mooloolaba into Noosa’s Laguna Bay. It then heads further north to Wolf Rock, just off Double Island Point, before turning south-east for Flinders Reef. From the reef the fleet take a zig-zag course heading west to the outer Gneerings, just off Mooloolaba Bay, then back into the coast to Caloundra before heading east again for the penultimate leg out to Flinders Reef. The final leg is a westerly track home to the finish off Mooloolaba and the big prize-giving party.

The inshore cruising and sports boats races are much-less demanding distances. On Saturday 5th October the sports boats, SB20s and Cruising divisions will coastal race 40 nautical miles north to Noosa and back to Mooloolaba in the Laguna Bay Challenge. Then on Sunday the Cruising Division will have a short passage race in Mooloolaba Bay while the Sports Boats will complete nearby in several races on a windward/leeward course.

For event information and to enter online, go www.mooloolaba.yachting.org.au.