[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/
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