[by Lisa Ratcliff]
Alan Whiteley’s Victorian Cookson built TP52 Cougar II travelled 1,500 nautical miles to outsail a world class IRC Grand Prix division 1 fleet at Australia’s most awarded regatta, Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
“It’s a better result than we expected,” said a delighted Whiteley this afternoon. “We have been sailing in very esteemed company...the crew is ecstatic about taking out the grand prix division.
“Logistically it’s hard work getting up here from Melbourne but it’s been well worth it. The courses are great, the event is well run and it’s great fun.”
In the overall pointscore Cougar II finished two points clear of Bob Steel’s sistership Quest from Sydney and nine points from the third placed Victorian Cookson 50 Living Doll, skippered by Michael Hiatt.
Cougar II and Quest have faced each other on the start line – and swapped the lead - many times before but today it was Whiteley’s turn.
“Congratulations to Alan and his team,” said Steel this afternoon. “We were very pleased to come second.”
Eventual IRC Grand Prix division 2 winner Honeysuckle, the Beneteau First 45 skippered by Ray Harris, finished today’s Molle Island Race then waited in the wings, scanning the horizon for Rod Jones’ Archambault 40 Alegria, their series nemesis.
Once the required gap had past, in terms of the number of minutes Honeysuckle had to put between them and Alegria, the crew was confident enough to celebrate their win on board.
“We are very elated...it was a tough series,” said a relieved Harris. “Apart from having the sails up to check them and the rig, our first proper sail was last Saturday’s opening race. It’s been a roller coaster.
"The boys had the boat flying today. We had a good downwind leg and we opened up a gap on Alegria then worked really hard to maintain speed,” Harris added.
Hamilton Island CEO Glenn Bourke this afternoon helped sail Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats X to the perfect regatta finish – line honours and a handicap win in today’s race.
“From our perspective we are so pleased with the regatta,” said Bourke. “Sometimes breeze makes or breaks a regatta and we had breeze the whole week. So many have said it’s a further improvement on last year,” added Bourke, who called tactics this week on Wild Oats X.
Island owner Bob Oatley concurred, declaring it “a fantastic regatta...the best ever”.
The three-time Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winning crew on Wild Oats X has had fickle fortunes on the water while learning how to get the most out of their new swept back spreader rig. Yesterday their canting keel motor burnt out resulting in the crew having to work well into the night to install the spare motor, but today it was all smiles on board Wild Oats X after they capped off their week with a third and final line honours win – and an outright win - in the 23 nautical mile Molle Islands Race.
Peter Harburg’s slight development of Wild Oats X, Black Jack, not only proved an excellent sparring partner for Wild Oats X, they broke the Reichel Pugh 66’s two year stranglehold on the fastest boat around the track with five firsts from nine races.
Mark Bradford says the owner is undecided about contesting this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart, “we’ll wait for the dust to settle then make up our minds,” skipper Mark Bradford said dockside this afternoon.
One by one 11 divisions lined up in an orderly fashion in Dent Passage this morning for the postcard shot of the series. With most out of silverware contention it was a laid back affair at the start, the 5-8 knot sou’easter providing easy going conditions for the 2,000 plus sailors who have been hard at it – both on and offshore – for a week.
The Roulettes’ final fly over of the fleet at the start was the only noise to be heard, replacing the yelling that accompanied the fresher winds at the start of the week when many crews fancied themselves as top three placegetters.
In the inaugural South Pacific Cup results, the Aussie team of Living Doll, Yendys and Alegria romped home on 45 points, beating the Kiwi team of Pussy Galore, Wired and Carrera by 29 points.
Trophies will be presented tonight at the official prize giving dinner before weary crews head back to their home ports.
Results
http://www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au/
Showing posts with label Hamilton Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hamilton Island. Show all posts
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Audi Hamilton Island RW to be decided on final day
'Alegria downwind at speed - 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week' Crosbie Lorimer [by Lisa Ratcliff]
The momentous tussle at the top of the IRC Grand Prix Division 2 pointscore will go down to the wire tomorrow with Rod Jones’ Alegria and Ray Harris’ Honeysuckle still separated by just one point after six days of racing.
'We’ll just have to keep the throttle down' said Honeysuckle’s navigator Michael Spies this afternoon. The final result will depend on who beats who tomorrow...if it goes to a countback we will be better off.'
After scoring sixth and seventh in today’s two windward/leewards, Bob Steel’s TP52 Quest has moved the wrong direction in the podium placings. Quest, which was called OCS in the second race, has slipped from second to third on the series leaderboard whereas they need to be moving in the opposite direction if they are to have any chance of winning the prestigious Audi IRC Australian Championship which will be decided tomorrow.
With Quest no longer breathing down their necks, Alan Whiteley’s TP52 Cougar II from Melbourne has a more comfortable lead on 18 points from Michael Hiatt’s Victorian modified conventional keeled Cookson 50 Living Doll which has moved into second overall on 25 points in IRC Grand Prix Division 1.
The week’s line honours contest has been stamped Black Jack’s with their fourth and fifth fastest times from eight races in today’s two short course races. The score stands at five to Peter Harburg’s Black Jack, two to Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats X and one to Andrew Short’s Shockwave – Club Marine with one race to go.
Regatta director Denis Thompson sent the rest of the 225 boat fleet contesting the 25th anniversary regatta on a 21 nautical mile course around Long Island. There was plenty of colour and action on the Dent Passage start line and overhead with the Airforce Roulettes weaving their aerobatic magic for the on-water procession.
In the PHS Passage division, Mike Freebairn’s classic 1968 built S&S 49 MBDS Spirit of Koomooloo scored its first bullet of the series, the heavy 22 time Rolex Sydney Hobart entrant quick off the start line in the 10 knot sou’east breeze.
'Today we had a nice breeze and good crew work, and when we went around Long Island we think those behind us were hurting,' said Freebairn this afternoon. 'On the last work we had good height and just enough breeze to keep the boat pressured up. Short tacking into the finish is not our forte but the final results went our way.'
In the PHS Grand Prix division, Rob Reynolds’ Middle Harbour Yacht Club boat Pla Loma IV has found form in the second half of the regatta, continuing to hold a three point lead over Whalewatchingsydney.net which won today’s islands race.
Reynolds suffered fractures to his vertebrae and face when he fell down a set of stairs a few months back. He’s been out of action for the last ten weeks but with his doctor’s blessing he was not only allowed to contest Audi Hamilton Island Race Week but has helmed his DK43 in every race, taking the opportunity to steer sitting down whenever possible.
And the plan for tomorrow’s decider? 'Sail as well as we have been sailing for the past couple of days and keep a close eye on Whalewatchingsydney.net and Hitchhiker,' said Reynolds this afternoon.
Tomorrow, Saturday 30 August, is the final day of competition at the 25th anniversary Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
The 23.3 nautical mile race Molle Islands Race for all classes will signal the close of Australia’s most awarded keel boat regattas.
The Club Marine Cruising Division 1 fleet will lead the fleet out of Dent Passage following the 9.30am start in what is usually the ‘cover shot’ of the week.
Between 9.30am and 10.35am 11 divisions will peel off, most likely under spinnaker, creating a stunning spectacle that is published worldwide as the showcase image for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week and Hamilton Island.
Trophies will be presented tomorrow evening at the Convention Centre prize giving dinner.
Results
http://www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au/
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Squark arks up after false start
[by Lisa Ratcliff]
A jittery IRC Grand Prix division 1 fleet lined up for this morning’s Whitehaven Beach Race off the Eastern starting line in Fitzalan Passage in a lighter sou’east breeze and lumpy seas.
In the countdown to the 10.30am start signal the race committee was calling out those over the start line but for some it was already curtains, even for the headlining acts.
Peter Harburg’s Brisbane based Reichel Pugh 66 Black Jack was 'a bit eager trying to get to the boat end of the start line' then found they couldn’t manoeuvre in amongst the smaller end of the grand prix fleet and had to re-start.
Despite suffering at least a two minute penalty and a couple of other minor issues around the track, the dynamic duo of Etchells and 2007 America’s Cup sailor Mark ‘Squark’ Bradford and his tactician, round the world sailor Peter ‘Billy’ Merrington, managed to peg back the rest of the fleet to claim line honours by 20 seconds from Andrew Short’s 80 foot maxi Shockwave – Club Marine.
'It’s difficult to build speed and start with the smaller boats when the boat’s not very manoeuvrable. That’s the sacrifice you make sailing a big boat,' said Bradford minutes after claiming his third line honours win from six races.
Describing their entire race as 'a bit unorthodox', Bradford paid full credit to ‘Billy’ Merrington. 'The tactics were superb...Billy got us out of trouble.'
It’s rare for Mark Richards to miss a start but today he misjudged the line and was also individually recalled, sending the Bob Oatley owned Wild Oats X back to the start line once they heard the ‘On Course Side’ call, which took a little time to filter through to the three-time Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winning crew.
Bob Steel’s TP52 Quest threw off yesterday’s collision with Surprise Rock and subsequent damage, to record its second win on corrected time putting them one point behind Division 1 series leader Cougar II, Alan Whiteley’s Melbourne based sistership to Quest.
It’s a big effort bringing a boat to Hamilton Island from Melbourne and Whiteley is 'quietly confident' that it’s been well worth his while.
'We have no great expectations, we are just here to have a good series but having said that, the boys are not making any mistakes and the conditions have been similar to what we are used to on Port Phillip Bay,' said Whiteley this afternoon.
In IRC Grand Prix Division 2 Stephen Ellis’ modified Farr 40 Splash Gordon rallied to win today’s race on corrected time from Nick George’s DK46 Exile. Exile’s second today has put them into the top three on the progressive pointscore which still has Rod Jones’ Alegria leading Ray Harris’ Honeysuckle by one point.
There were barely two boat lengths between Honeysuckle and Alegria at any stage today, the two creating some action at the top mark rounding when Alegria tried to shoot the mark inside Honeysuckle and almost drifted back onto it.
Kevin Horne’s Elliott 9.6m Wild Spirit from Maroochy River beat the rest of the Performance Grand Prix fleet today, outsailing Garry Holder’s The Real Thing and Walter Carpenter’s Pacific 50 Samarkand.
As the IRC Grand Prix and Performance Grand Prix fleets kept themselves sensible for racing, the remaining divisions enjoyed their second lay day for the week. A steady procession of yachts of all shapes and sizes began heading out of Hamilton Island Harbour early this morning to join the locals and tourists who’d already taken up position on the award-winning Whitehaven Beach.
A huge crowd gathers annually to enjoy the spectacular white silica sand, turquoise waters and to be entertained by the many planned activities including beach cricket and volleyball.
Today the Airforce Roulettes RAAF Aerobatic team wowed the crowd with their twists and turns at the Whitehaven Beach Party, the biggest social gathering of Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
Tomorrow the IRC Division 1 and 2 fleets will sail two windward/leeward races starting from Eastern start line and all other classes will sail a short around the islands race with the course yet to be announced.
Friday’s forecast has the breeze building back up to 15-20 knots from the SE/E for the penultimate day of racing.
In the nine race inaugural South Pacific Cup the Aussies have a handy 20 point lead over the three boat Kiwi team.
Results
http://www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au/
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Day 2 - Audi Hamilton Island RW
[by Lisa Ratcliff]
Today the formula one component of the 25th anniversary Audi Hamilton Island Race Week split from the bulk of the 225 strong fleet for some thrilling round the cans action in Fitzalan Passage, to the east of Hamilton Island.
The line honours battle continued at the front end of the fleet with Peter Harburg’s Black Jack gaining the upper hand, scoring two crucial wins over the Mark Richards skippered Wild Oats X.
The 2006 built Black Jack, named after the three time formula one world champion Sir Jack Brabham in honour of his sporting achievements and launched in Brisbane last month, is a slight development of the previous Wild Oats X model.
In race 1 the two got away side by side, Black Jack finally edging out Wild Oats to finish comfortably ahead of Wild Oats X, but in the second race just a boat length separated the two at the finish, PRO Denis Thompson reporting “in the end it came down to the best gybe”.
In the all important handicap stakes, the Victorians stole the show today. The crew of Michael Hiatt’s modified Cookson 50 Living Doll redeemed themselves beyond doubt with consecutive handicap victories after scoring OCS in yesterday’s regatta opener. Living Doll is a member of the Australian South Pacific Cup team and today’s bullets will stand them in good stead against the kiwis who were left in their wake in the heavy seaway.
“The crew work was fantastic and we worked hard,” said a delighted Hiatt this afternoon. “The boat has been prepared for this sort of racing.”
Alan Whiteley’s TP52 Cougar, also representing Victoria,finished runner up in the first and second race of the day and Graeme Troon’s Reichel/Pugh 46 XLR8, yet another Melbourne boat which is sailing this week with Ian ‘Barney’ Walker at the helm, rounded out the top three in race two this afternoon.
A number of kiwi boats had issues on the track today including Rob Bassett’s Bakewell-White 52 Wired which was in irons for a number of minutes when a button jammed in the canting keel’s control system leaving the keel stuck on the wrong side and the boat stopped in the water. John Meadowcroft’s stunning Marten 49 Carerra from Auckland ripped its kite at a bottom mark turning and couldn’t crack the top three in IRC Grand Prix division 2 in either race.
In IRC Grand Prix division 2 Rod Jones’ Alegria, also a member of the Hamilton Island Yacht Club team representing Australia for the South Pacific Cup, took the double with two firsts.
There was some drama on the course in the second race of the day with Stephen Ellis’ modified Farr 40 Splash Gordon losing 30 year old Sydney based crewman Sam Horgan overboard at the last top rounding. He was retrieved in less than two minutes, one witness describing it as one of the most perfectly executed man overboard recoveries he’d ever seen. The crew has nicknamed Sam ‘Splash Horgan’.
Tomorrow is the 59 nautical mile Club Marine Classic Hayman Island Race, the longest race of the series for the IRC Grand Prix, IRC Premier Passage, IRC Passage and Performance Grand Prix. It’s an early start ahead of a long day with the first division off the line at 8.15am from Dent Passage.
The cruising divisions will sail the 41 nautical mile Double Cones Island Race starting from Dent Passage at 11am.
Results
http://www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au/
Today the formula one component of the 25th anniversary Audi Hamilton Island Race Week split from the bulk of the 225 strong fleet for some thrilling round the cans action in Fitzalan Passage, to the east of Hamilton Island.
The line honours battle continued at the front end of the fleet with Peter Harburg’s Black Jack gaining the upper hand, scoring two crucial wins over the Mark Richards skippered Wild Oats X.
The 2006 built Black Jack, named after the three time formula one world champion Sir Jack Brabham in honour of his sporting achievements and launched in Brisbane last month, is a slight development of the previous Wild Oats X model.
In race 1 the two got away side by side, Black Jack finally edging out Wild Oats to finish comfortably ahead of Wild Oats X, but in the second race just a boat length separated the two at the finish, PRO Denis Thompson reporting “in the end it came down to the best gybe”.
In the all important handicap stakes, the Victorians stole the show today. The crew of Michael Hiatt’s modified Cookson 50 Living Doll redeemed themselves beyond doubt with consecutive handicap victories after scoring OCS in yesterday’s regatta opener. Living Doll is a member of the Australian South Pacific Cup team and today’s bullets will stand them in good stead against the kiwis who were left in their wake in the heavy seaway.
“The crew work was fantastic and we worked hard,” said a delighted Hiatt this afternoon. “The boat has been prepared for this sort of racing.”
Alan Whiteley’s TP52 Cougar, also representing Victoria,finished runner up in the first and second race of the day and Graeme Troon’s Reichel/Pugh 46 XLR8, yet another Melbourne boat which is sailing this week with Ian ‘Barney’ Walker at the helm, rounded out the top three in race two this afternoon.
A number of kiwi boats had issues on the track today including Rob Bassett’s Bakewell-White 52 Wired which was in irons for a number of minutes when a button jammed in the canting keel’s control system leaving the keel stuck on the wrong side and the boat stopped in the water. John Meadowcroft’s stunning Marten 49 Carerra from Auckland ripped its kite at a bottom mark turning and couldn’t crack the top three in IRC Grand Prix division 2 in either race.
In IRC Grand Prix division 2 Rod Jones’ Alegria, also a member of the Hamilton Island Yacht Club team representing Australia for the South Pacific Cup, took the double with two firsts.
There was some drama on the course in the second race of the day with Stephen Ellis’ modified Farr 40 Splash Gordon losing 30 year old Sydney based crewman Sam Horgan overboard at the last top rounding. He was retrieved in less than two minutes, one witness describing it as one of the most perfectly executed man overboard recoveries he’d ever seen. The crew has nicknamed Sam ‘Splash Horgan’.
Tomorrow is the 59 nautical mile Club Marine Classic Hayman Island Race, the longest race of the series for the IRC Grand Prix, IRC Premier Passage, IRC Passage and Performance Grand Prix. It’s an early start ahead of a long day with the first division off the line at 8.15am from Dent Passage.
The cruising divisions will sail the 41 nautical mile Double Cones Island Race starting from Dent Passage at 11am.
Results
http://www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au/
Images Day 1- Audi Hamilton Island Race Week
Day 1 images of Audi Hamilton Island Race Week by Crosbie Lorimer.
In surprisingly cool 18-20 knot southeasterlies and a nasty chop the fleet left the Fitzalan Passage to the north of the island on a tough beat to Lindeman Island. From there it was a fast and more relaxed kite run north to the finish at Dent Passage.
Wild Oats X heads south towards Kennedy Sound - 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Crosbie Lorimer 
Pussy Galore at speed - 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Crosbie Lorimer 
XLR8 and Audi Centre Melbourne round Spitfire Rock - 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Crosbie Lorimer 
Living Doll loses a sheet - 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Crosbie Lorimer 
Shockwave 5 leads the fleet - 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Crosbie Lorimer 
Peter Harburgs Black Jack - 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Crosbie LorimerTough at the Top - Audi Hamilton Island RW
[by Ian Grant]
The 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, Australia’s premier blue water yacht racing regatta, started in testing 20-25 knot trade winds and lumpy 1.5m white capped wind waves in the windy Whitsunday Islands earlier today.
A typical winter trade wind which peaked at 27 knots before dawn presented the record fleet with a supreme torture test during the 23 nautical mile Lindeman Island race where the leading yachts power sailed to exciting speed on the spinnaker sailing leg from Spitfire Rock to the finish off Hamilton Harbour.
The race for line honours between the almost identical Reichel Pugh 66 class sloops turned into a match racing tactical dog fight with the new challenger the Peter Harburg owned and Mark Bradford helmed Black Jack staging an absorbing match race against Bob Oatley’s, Mark Richards helmed, defending champion Wild Oats X.
This was by far the most exciting line honours clash ever decided in the 25 year history of racing at Hamilton Island.
Interest naturally focused on this clash with each of the talented crews holding the winning edge at various turning marks of the course.
Black Jack with her superior clear wind start held the edge on the tough slog into the breeze while the Andrew Short skippered maxi Shockwave Club Marine utilising her sail power and waterline advantage was the first to weather Spitfire Rock closely pursued by the match racing Black Jack and Wild Oats X However it soon became evident that the smaller Black Jack and Wild Oats X were faster on the spinnaker reaching angles hitting speeds in excess of 18 knots.
Initially Black Jack looked poised to capture an upset when she power sailed away to a 32 second lead but that changed when Wild Oats X advantaged with a slight wind change was able to run deeper and recaptured the lead in the final 4 miles.
As expected the Black Jack crew never gave up drawing to within a boats length with the finish line in sight but the Wild Oats X crew cleverly maintained first use of the breeze to win by 29 seconds with another 3 minutes 45 seconds to the outpaced Shockwave Club Marine.
Former Hamilton Island Race Week champion Bob Steel and principal helmsman Jamie McPhail produced unmatched handicap rated speed over the final spinnaker run to claim the major IRC class corrected time points.
The skilfully sailed TP52 Quest rating 1.345 defeated the Geoff Ross skippered defending champion Yendys (1.377) by 1 minute 46 seconds with Ray Roberts Quantum Racing (1.355) another 2 minutes 23 seconds astern.
Results
http://www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au/
The 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, Australia’s premier blue water yacht racing regatta, started in testing 20-25 knot trade winds and lumpy 1.5m white capped wind waves in the windy Whitsunday Islands earlier today.
A typical winter trade wind which peaked at 27 knots before dawn presented the record fleet with a supreme torture test during the 23 nautical mile Lindeman Island race where the leading yachts power sailed to exciting speed on the spinnaker sailing leg from Spitfire Rock to the finish off Hamilton Harbour.
The race for line honours between the almost identical Reichel Pugh 66 class sloops turned into a match racing tactical dog fight with the new challenger the Peter Harburg owned and Mark Bradford helmed Black Jack staging an absorbing match race against Bob Oatley’s, Mark Richards helmed, defending champion Wild Oats X.
This was by far the most exciting line honours clash ever decided in the 25 year history of racing at Hamilton Island.
Interest naturally focused on this clash with each of the talented crews holding the winning edge at various turning marks of the course.
Black Jack with her superior clear wind start held the edge on the tough slog into the breeze while the Andrew Short skippered maxi Shockwave Club Marine utilising her sail power and waterline advantage was the first to weather Spitfire Rock closely pursued by the match racing Black Jack and Wild Oats X However it soon became evident that the smaller Black Jack and Wild Oats X were faster on the spinnaker reaching angles hitting speeds in excess of 18 knots.
Initially Black Jack looked poised to capture an upset when she power sailed away to a 32 second lead but that changed when Wild Oats X advantaged with a slight wind change was able to run deeper and recaptured the lead in the final 4 miles.
As expected the Black Jack crew never gave up drawing to within a boats length with the finish line in sight but the Wild Oats X crew cleverly maintained first use of the breeze to win by 29 seconds with another 3 minutes 45 seconds to the outpaced Shockwave Club Marine.
Former Hamilton Island Race Week champion Bob Steel and principal helmsman Jamie McPhail produced unmatched handicap rated speed over the final spinnaker run to claim the major IRC class corrected time points.
The skilfully sailed TP52 Quest rating 1.345 defeated the Geoff Ross skippered defending champion Yendys (1.377) by 1 minute 46 seconds with Ray Roberts Quantum Racing (1.355) another 2 minutes 23 seconds astern.
Results
http://www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au/
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