A prominent trough over the Coral Sea has contributed to forecasters issuing a strong wind warning for the Whitsunday Islands today.
The normal moderate trade wind band which provided the 193 yacht fleet contesting the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week with perfect sailing conditions on Saturday has been replaced by a boisterous strong wind warning.
Forecasters are predicting the brute breeze to blow at an average of 25 knots by early morning with the crews to expect gusts to 30 knots by mid afternoon.
These conditions confirmed by the wind recorder at Hamilton Island Airport which rarely registered wind speeds below 22knots overnight suggest there will be some spectacular heavy wind yacht racing during the Island passage races today.
The brute breeze and building foam crested seaway promises to sort the best from the rest with the skippers, tacticians and crews facing a supreme test to protect their respected fresh wind sailing technique.
As expected both the skippers and crews have taken more than a casual interest in the forecast after yesterdays breeze forced a number of crews to clutch the grab rails when their yacht was power driven into a nerve bending broach.
Naturally interest will again focus on the Grand Prix IRC class fleet where the Mark Richards skippered super maxi and Rolex Sydney Hobart Race record holder Wild Oats X1 is expected to retain her perfect line honours score over her Sydney big boat rivals Investic Loyal (Peter Merrington) and Lahana (Peter Millard).
However while Wild Oats X1 has set the pace the smaller high performance TP 52 Hooligan skippered by Marcus Blackmore and racing to the tactical strategy from Australian Olympian Tom Slingsby has emerged as the yacht to beat after they recorded a 1-1-1-2 during the opening two days of racing