By Ian Grant, Airlie Beach Qld, Tuesday Aug 18 2009
Ray Roberts and his Evolution Racing crew exercised their vast experience to claim an important win in the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week 34 n/ml Pine Islet race this afternoon. The canting keeled Cookson 50 has a long history of success winning the line and handicap double in the 2008 Audi Sydney to Gold Coast race and back to back victories in the 2008-9 Brisbane to Gladstone classic.
However skipper Ray Roberts said “This race will remain as one of our best”.
It’s always a nice feeling to be a winner and the experienced Evolution Racing crew who include some real heavyweights in the sport like the super clever tactician Steve McConaghy, Navigator Richard Hudson multiple Sydney Hobart winner Peter Messenger and former World Farr 40 champion John Byrne form the nucleus of a crew who have miles to make all the right choices.
But even with this overkill of talent skipper Ray Roberts still became engaged in a centimetre by centimetre and second by second tactical dogfight against the equally impressive Victorian duo of the Farr 55 Living Doll (Michael Hiatt) and the new Reichel Pugh 52 Scarlet Runner (Rob Date). They were rarely separated on the long slog south to Pine Islet with all three crews sharing the lead at various times.
“Our new Evolution Sails square top has significantly improved our upwind performance in light pressure”. Ray Roberts said.
This was evident when the Cookson 50 Evolution Racing locked horns with the Farr 55 Living Doll when they sailed into the variable 12- 15 knot South East breeze. In fact they were that close Evolution Racing forced Living Doll into committing a port and starboard breach. However Living Doll managed to recover the lead but Evolution Racing continued to track her wake when spinnaker were set for the downwind tacking duel to the finish. “It was a case of keeping them under the hammer with a tight tactical cover while also making sure there were no errors. Personally I have the pleasure of racing with a great crew and they played a big role in the decision making that eventually allowed us to score an exceptionally enjoyable result”. Ray Roberts said.
Evolution Racing hardly faltered during the four hours 21 minutes 40 seconds of intense tactical racing to claim an important 2 minute 49 second victory over Scarlet Runner while Living Doll which led the series by 2 points prior to today finished a disappointing third 5 minutes 30 seconds off the pace. This result has turned the battle for the 2009 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week IRC championship into a three way ‘dog-fight’ with Evolution Racing 3-6-2-1-1 leading Scarlet Runner 1-2-1-5-3 and Living Doll 2-1-6-2-2 on count back.