By Ian Grant at Hamilton Island.
Traditional sporting rivalry between New Zealand and Australia will be played out when the top ocean racing crews from both Nations line up to contest the opening race of the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week tomorrow.
New Zealand Yacht Squadron owner skipper James Farmer has enlisted some help from the successful Black Magic Americas Cup squad to crew in the high performance TP52 Georgia.
The popular James Farmer who finished the 2010 regatta in third place has basically stacked his crew in a major bid to beat the Australian’s on their home waters.
Last year Georgia fell short in the light winds and has returned to engage her Australian rivals in what promises to be an exciting a nip-n-tuck dogfight for the Grand Prix IRC class championship.
As expected when the South East trade wind gusted to a peak of 25 knots on the Whitsunday Passage the Georgia crew who are noted for their skill to handle the stronger wind range were happy and hoping the conditions would hold.
However the leading Australian crews on the 2010 Audi Australian IRC champion Loki (Stephen Ainsworth), the 2011 Brisbane to Gladstone Race Champion Hooligan (Marcus Blackmore) and the 2011 Sydney-Gold Coast race winner Living Doll (Michael Hiatt) were also looking forward to protecting their reputations.
Tactically the geographic nature of the race course involving a long slog into the breeze followed by a spinnaker run to the finish comprises a number of tactical challenges.
Nominating who will win on corrected handicap is difficult while the Rolex Sydney Hobart race record holder the Bob Oatley owned and Mark Richards skippered Wild Oats X1 racing in the IRC class for the first time at Hamilton Island is favoured to win the prestigious ‘Gun Boat’ of the series with a perfect line honours score.