The Yachts

Quest

Quest

 

A blast from the past, Quest is a Nelson/Marek 43, designed to the IMS rule and launched 21 years ago for Bob Steel. Now owned by 80 year-old Ian Coward, son Bill is aboard, and Steven North is skipper. This is their first Sydney Gold Coast race with Quest, part of a year-long program towards their zenith, the 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart, for which Coward has prepared by adding a bow sprit, new rigging and sails to bring her up to Category 1 standard for IRC racing. She is one of two former Quests in the Land Rover Gold Coast race, joining Balance which won the 2015 Rolex Sydney Hobart, and the 2008 Hobart as Quest.    

When Steel launched her in 1995, Quest won at Hamilton Island, the Telstra Cup and was second overall in the Sydney Hobart. In 1996 she won the Sydney Mooloolaba race before being shipped to Hawaii, where with her two team mates, Ausmaid and Ragamuffin, won the Kenwood Cup. Quest returned to Australia to start the cycle again, but her rig broke in the 1996 Hobart. She was then sailed to fourth overall in the tragic 1998 Sydney Hobart by new owner, Kevin Miller, under the name Industrial Quest, one of just 44 to finish from 115 starters. Incidentally, she finished eighth on line, one place behind Steel’s next Quest, a Nelson/Marek 46, saying something for the design and their crews. A former Steel crew, Tom Braidwood, found the boat in a bad state in 2012, so bought and fixed her up to show kids the joy of yacht racing.

 

Competitor Details

Yacht Name Quest
Sail Number 9090
Owner Ian Coward
Skipper Steven North
Navigator John Moody
Crew B Coward, G Lawrie, G Raithel, H Cowlishaw, K Dowdney, M Hampe, P Lincoln, R Coward
State QLD
Club MYC/SCYC
Type Nelson Marek 43
Builder Carrol Marine
Construction G.R.P
LOA 13.1
Beam 3.8
Draft 3.0