Wild Oats X, Lahana and Black Jack staged a thrilling nip-n-tuck match race for line honours in the 27 n/ml Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Island passage event in the windy Whitsunday Islands yesterday.
A true Southerly trade wind spiced with gusts recorded at 26 knots propelled Wild Oats X, Lahana and Black Jack into some wild wave riding speeds on the long spinnaker run between Spitfire Rock and Pine Islet.
John Honan co owner of the 30m maxi Lahana described the run as a ride to remember.
“We were in front at Spitfire rock but that fell apart when we blew out a spinnaker” He said.
However they sailed back into line honours contention when Lahana logged a peak speed of 25 knots while both of the smaller pocket maxi’s Wild Oats X and Black Jack also produced similar speed.
As expected the three way line honours duel had all crews sailing on the narrow line between distinction and disaster when they entered the final nautical mile of the course.
Wild Oats X was the first to set her spinnaker for the final run up Dent Passage however her master helmsman Iain Murray was forced to apply a tight tactical cover on both Lahana and Black Jack when all three sloops power sailed to the finish.
The Wild Oats X crew well known for sailing fast in boisterous winds just held out the faster finishing Lahana to claim a narrow 12 second win while Black Jack was another 14 seconds astern completing the most exciting race finish in the 27 year history of Hamilton Island Race Week.
However while Wild Oats X finished with a super fast 12.43 knot average her course time failed by over nine minutes to beat the equally exciting Victorian sloop Living Doll which revelled in the icy breeze to score a comfortable 4 minute 21 second win on corrected handicap over the Robert Hanna skippered Shogun with the Grand Prix championship leader Loki another 1 minute 13 seconds astern.
Loki which has finished all 6 races in the top four including four wins has firmed a stronger grip on the prestigious championship trophy with her 7 point lead over Living Doll with Wild Oats X remaining as a medal contender another 2 points off the pace.