By Ian Grant.
Sunshine Coast sailors expressed their experience to race in hull and rig testing winds to record career best spinnaker sailing rides during the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
The normally windy Whitsunday Passage was whipped into a frenzy of hull tormenting waves that destroyed the ambitions of several top performing crews while the specialist ‘brute breeze’ sailors excelled in what was a supreme test of skill and endurance.
Flying spray over the deck and gusts to 32 knots was a constant reminder that the downwind run from a relatively calm start in Dent Passage north to the Double Cone Islands was not to be one for the faint hearted.
As expected there was a long and expensive list of damage including spinnakers exploding under the load of the stronger gusts while fittings were ripped out of the deck masts and spinnaker poles snapped and spars bent
Unfortunately the defending Audi Australian and Hamilton Island Race Week champion the Stephen Ainsworth owned and Gordon Maguire skippered Loki was among the list of causalities.
Loki which had sailed brilliantly to close the gap on the series leader Hooligan (Marcus Blackmore) by winning the two previous races in fresh winds was ruled out of the 63 n/ml Island passage race when her expensive $80,000 dollar mainsail exploded in tatters minutes after the start. Read more…
By Ian Grant.
Whitsunday Sailing Club skipper Colin Pruden proved his aging Kim Swarbrick designed sloop Sandpiper Wutba still has the handicap rated speed to race against the best cruising class yachts in Australia.
Sandpiper which has raced under several owners in the Whitsunday Sailing Club point score events went within one point of winning the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Division 2 Cruising class championship last Friday.
Both Colin Pruden and his crew of Whitsunday Sailing Club mates including Mick Phillips who had shown their rivals how to race against strong wind and savage current were in the thick of the tactical action duelling for a possible win when a typical glass-out forced officials to abandon the final race on Saturday.
When they motor/sailed onto Dent Passage on Saturday morning the enthusiastic Colin Pruden believed they had a chance to win the series after recording a 7-4-11-3 in the physically demanding island passage races contested in moderate to fresh and frightening winds.
Unfortunately after the breeze blew to a recorded 32 knots during the week there was barely enough reliable breeze to raise a ripple on Dent Passage when the final race was officially abandoned.
Prior to that the Peter Maitz helmed Beneteau 50 Leonardo racing under the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club burgee held a 1 point advantage after winning the Long Island Passage race on Friday while Sandpiper finished third missing out second place by 20 seconds. Read more…
By Ian Grant at Hamilton Island.
Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats X1 did little harm to her reputation as the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race record holder when the super maxi power sailed to win the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week ‘Gun Boat’ trophy.
Both skipper Mark Richards and his talented crew including Australia 11 Americas Cup winning tactician Grant Simmer won line honours in all nine races against Investec Loyal (Anthony Bell) and Lahana (Peter Millard).
Wild Oats X1 set a high standard when they broke the 23.3 nautical mile Lindeman Island Race record on day 1.
They continued to show their superior boat speed and crew skills to leave their rival big boat crews following the power sailing wake of Wild Oats X1 on the shorter windward/leeward races.
As expected the crew faced a serious test against their heavy wind skills when a strong wind warning was issued for the 63 n/ml Double Cone Island race.
“We had some real pressure up to 32 knots on the spinnaker run across a lumpy Whitsunday Passage”. Skipper Mark Richards said. Read more…
By Ian Grant at Hamilton Island.
Marcus Blackmore’s high performance Hooligan ocean racing crew produced a dominating performance to win the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week grand prix class championship.
Hooligan the former Team Emirates New Zealand Merit Cup winning TP52 completed the Grand Slam on the Australian offshore racing circuit when skipper Marcus Blackmore assisted by his talented crew romped to a runaway win.
They won seven of the nine races and discarded a second in their best 8 races to count eventually claiming one of the most impressive wins ever recorded in the 28 year history of Hamilton Island Race Week.
In fact the superior strong wind sailing technique and boat speed paved the way for Hooligan to complete all races with a collective 24 minute 34 second advantage over the defending champion Loki (Stephen Ainsworth).
When Marcus Blackmore bought the yacht late last year he knew it was fast having won the Merit Cup in Europe but it is well known in sailing circles that fast yachts can become slow without a crew of experienced sailors onboard.
The popular owner skipper supported by the tactical strategy of World Olympic Laser champion Tom Slingsby progressively set the pace winning the first three races before Loki won the next two. Read more…
GILL 60th BRIBIE CUP
The GILL 60th anniversary Bribie Cup will be held on the 10th September; that just over two weeks time.
The official Notice of Race and entry form have now been released on the brand new Bribie Cup website, where you will find all the details you need including mooring and catering arrangements at Bribie.
Entries must arrive no later than Monday 5th September 2011. A late fee will apply for entries received after that date. Entries will NOT be accepted after 1700 hrs Wednesday 7th September 2011.
Yachts will be split into a number of divisons including a short and long course for monohulls, a multihull division, and the Deagon Slipways Classic division.
On Sunday following the race, yachts in the Classic division can take advantage of the free berthing at Scarbourough Marina for the week before entering the Classic Fesitval the next weekend (NOR for this event can be found on the Bribie Cup website)
2011 will mark 60 years since the first Bribie Cup was held. With such a significant milestone, please help make this year a great event and enter today.
Queensland Cruising Yacht Club
PO Box 399, Sandgate, 4017
Club & Marina – Sinbad Street, Shorncliffe, 4017
p: 07 3269 4588 f: 07 3269 0818
Club web: www.qcyc.com.au
Event web: http://bribiecup.qcyc.com.au
By Ian Grant. At Hamilton Island.
Popular ocean racing skipper Marcus Blackmore and his Hooligan racing team continued to express their unmatched boat speed when they won the 2011 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week trophy yesterday.
Hooligan the former Team New Zealand TP52 and winner of the 2010 Merit Cup in Europe has become the start performer on the highly competitive Australian blue water sailing circuit.
‘I had a simple purpose in mind when I took delivery of the yacht late last year”.
“That purpose was to buy a high performance racing yacht then ask a group of good sailors to help me sail her to happily and hopefully be successful on the race course”
The Hooligan racing team inherited a well prepared racing yacht previously crewed by a team of professional New Zealand sailors who have won the Americas Cup.
“Sure the Hooligan as we call her now was set up to be competitive but it was up to her new crew to point the yacht in the right direction”. Skipper Marcus Blackmore said.
Hooligan hit her straps winning her first regatta in Sydney last December before winning the Geelong Race Week on Victoria’s Corio Bay then winning the Sydney Harbour regatta.
Skipper Blackmore then entered Hooligan in the 308 n/ml Brisbane to Gladstone race and scored a convincing win.
After a short celebration with the 62 year old The Courier-Mail Cup he then mentioned that Hooligan a super fast TP 52 class sloop would be nominated for the prestigious Audi Hamilton Island Race Week series.
Over the past seven days the Hooligan racing team headed by master tactician the World champion Olympic Laser skipper Tom Slingsby have left their rivals following their power sailing wake as the crew of good Pittwater sailing mates coached by Olympic Gold Medal winning mentor Victor Kovalenko claimed seventh win from nine races on a relatively moderate Whitsunday Passage today.
CEO of Hamilton Island and master yacht racing helmsman Glenn Bourke overcame a number of serious setbacks to score a narrow 2 second win in the SB3 Queensland Championship race on Dent Passage yesterday.
After fighting for clear sailing space out of the start the Club Marine crew gradually outpaced their rivals to then misjudge the current and colliding with the rounding mark.
Both sail handlers Rod Jones and Greg Macallansmith who always sail cool under pressure reacted cleverly when Glenn Bourke had to slam Club Marine into a crash tack and re round the mark.
However they appeared to have lost any chance of chasing down the advantage held by race leader Phil Gray in Dulon when spinnakers were set for the power sailing downwind run where the exciting SB3 sports boats scudded at pace before the 20 knot breeze. Read more…
August 25, 2011 Media ReleaseNo.16
Solo sailor Bruce Arms, in his 14 metre catamaran Big Wave Rider, crossed the finish line at Mooloolaba on the 18th August 2011 at 9:41:06 am AEST setting a new round Australia record.
Bruce, renowned sailor and two-time winner of the Solo Trans-Tasman yacht race, completed his solo, non-stop, and un-assisted sail around Australia in 38 days 21 hours 40 minutes and 42 seconds. This made Bruce the fastest solo sailor around Australia and the first to do so in a Multihull (Catamaran).
Bruce broke the existing Performance Certificate held by Ian Thomson in SOS Ocean Racing of 42 days 5 hours 33 minutes and 55 seconds, by 3 days 7 hours 53 minutes and 13 seconds.
The new time is subject to official ratification by World Speed Sailing Record Council (WSSRC).
The GPS datalogger (Black Box) which recorded every 300 metres travelled, stored the time in UTC, the position, course over the ground (COG) and speed over the ground (SOG) during the circumnavigation along with the signed WSSRC declaration have been returned by the Commissioner-of-Record to England for the ratification process. This is expected within the next few weeks.
Media Interviews are available on request.
Ends.
Media Contact: Suzanne Arms
Mob: 0416 331 181
The unrelenting gusty trade winds are expected to gust above 20 knots to provide the international standard Audi Hamilton Island Race Week fleet with a searching test of racing in the windy Whitsunday Island waters today.
Unfortunately the surface trough in the Coral Sea has continued to close on the Queensland tropical coast while the associated high in the Tasman Sea have combined to direct another strong wind ‘torture test’ on the fleet.
The brute breeze which gusted to a recorded 33 knots on Tuesday left an expensive list of damage to deck fittings, sails, spars and individual reputations.
Among the most notable list of retirements was the defending IRC Grand Prix champion the high performance Sydney sloop Loki forced out when a mast spreader punched a hole in her mainsail. Read more…
By Ian Grant at Hamilton Island.
The normally busy Hamilton Island marina became a scene of high activity when the crews contesting the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week assessed the damage inflicted by the boisterous coastal wind warning.
Specialist sail makers, riggers mast and spar repairers worked extended shifts to ensure the 193 yacht fleet competing for honours in Australia’s premier race week regatta were ship shape to compete tomorrow.
Unfortunately the small Airlie Beach based sloop Grizzly which suffered a dismasting near North Molle Island on Tuesday has officially retired from the regatta while the connections of the Sydney Maxi Lahana who blew out their big spinnaker during a savage gust have reluctantly eliminated the badly damaged sail from their race inventory
A crew person who wishes to remain anonymous said Lahana was creating a fair amount noise when she was powering at pace downwind when all hell broke loose with the spinnaker exploding in tatters’. He said.
Sail makers also’ burnt the midnight oil’ during a desperate mission to repair Loki’s expensive mainsail.
Almost every crew had a story to tell about their experience scudding down waves to career best speeds while the crew of specialist heavy wind sailors on the line honours winner Wild Oats X1 recorded a peak speed of 23 knots in their super fast average of 13.33 knots. Read more…