Peter Millard’s 30 m maxi sloop Lahana left her rivals trailing a white water wake when she speed sailed to another impressive line honours win in the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week yesterday
Lahana previously considered to be obsolete has been rejuvenated with new sails to become a star performer in the regatta which has attracted a Sydney to Hobart standard fleet.
The Lahana crew combined cleverly to power sail over the 24.3 n/ml Baynham Island course finishing with a comfortable win in the Grand Prix IRC class over the Brisbane pocket-maxi Black Jack helmed by Mark Bradford while 2008 Star Class Olympian Iain Murray steered Wild Oats X into third place.
However while Lahana averaged 11.04 knots her speed was not fast enough to outpace her high 1.671 time correction factor in a race again dominated by the smaller Sydney sloop Loki which was cleverly helmed in the moderate 12.-15 knot breeze and flat seaway to record her fourth win of the series.
Loki survived a course long duel with the champion New Zealand sloop to eventually win by the narrow margin of 22 seconds while Wild Oats X finished third another 1 minute 24 seconds of the pace.
After five races Loki with a score of 1-1-1-4-1 leads Wild Oats X 3-2-3-10-3 by a runaway 12 point margin while Georgia with her more consistent results holds third place ahead of the defending champion the Michael Hiatt skippered Victorian yacht Living Doll.
Based on their performance yesterday the Loki crew have firmed a strong grip on the prestigious Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Grand Prix class championship trophy.
By Ian Grant.