Travel Daily | MTA on the crest of a wave with Jessica Watson and Bruce Arms

There will be no mistaking the vessel with its eye-catching MTA logo taking pride of place on the mainsail and hull as its makes it way from Launceston along the Tasmanian east coast on Good Friday (06 April) with Bruce at the helm and Jessica on this occasion performing normal crew duties.

Adding further exposure for the MTA brand, Bruce and Jessica will also address the huge crowd anticipated dockside in Launceston from the deck of ‘Mobile Travel Agents Big Wave Rider’ before the race gets underway.

MTA Managing Director, Roy Merricks will also be involved in the event, organisers having asked him to fire the 10-minute gun at Inspection Head Wharf in Launceston which traditionally marks the official count-down to the start of the race.

Internationally recognised Jessica, the youngest person to sail solo, unassisted and non-stop around the world, was officially inducted into the MTA team last November.

Mr Merricks said Jess was a perfect fit for the MTA brand and very representative of the company’s image.

“We are obviously proud to have Jessica on board with MTA – as a young, fresh, invigorating, adventurous and inspiring person she truly embodies and is very representative of our brand and our overall image,” he said.

“Our involvement with Jessica in the 2012 Australian Three Peaks Endurance Race is just one of several exciting projects we have planned with her across 2012.”

Bruce Arms is well known for being Jessica’s project manager for her historical around the world voyage. He is also the world sailing record holder for a single handed circumnavigation of Australia and has won the trans-Tasman race twice.

He is also an Australian Three Peaks veteran having competed in the event twice.

“Having both Bruce and Jessica aboard ‘Mobile Travel Agents Big Wave Rider’ at the same time is a major coup for us and the MTA brand,” Mr Merricks said.

The Australian Three Peaks Race is a non-stop offshore sailing and endurance mountain running event, commencing at Beauty Point just north of Launceston on the Tamar River and finishing in Hobart on the Derwent River. En route, the running members of each team have to scale Mount Strzelecki, Mount Freycinet and Mount Wellington.

The east-coast course around Tasmania affords the best combinations of suitable mountains, coastal centres, accessibility for followers, press crews and the public. It also brings national and international and exposure to two of the more beautiful but remote areas of the state including Flinders Island and the Freycinet Peninsula.

For competitors it offers an interesting alternative for the yachting fraternity and a challenging new activity for runners, climbers and bushwalkers. It is this unique combination of the two disparate disciplines which provides for such a challenging event.

Pictured: Jessica Watson aboard ‘Mobile Travel Agents Big Wave Rider’.