Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 Brief

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 Luxury Yacht Charter & Superyacht News

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011: Maxi saiing yacht Condor is first entry

January 19, 2011

The famous maxi yacht Condor, a two-time winner of line honours in the Sydney-Hobart race, is the first entry for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011.

Maxi sailing yacht Condor, two-time winner of line honours in the Sydney-Hobart race, is the first entry for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011. Photo Andrea FrancoliniAUDI

Maxi sailing yacht Condor, two-time winner of line honours in the Sydney-Hobart race, is the first entry for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011. Photo Andrea FrancoliniAUDI

It was only a few months before the inaugural edition of what is now Audi Hamilton Island Race Week was staged in 1984 that the then revolutionary 83ft maxi sailing yacht Condor made the headlines locally and internationally by taking line honours in the Sydney Hobart race.

Now the big boat is back in the news – as the first entry for this year’s Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, which has been confirmed for 19 to 27 August. Organisers are advising competitors that after lengthy discussions regarding a proposed date change for this year’s regatta it has been decided that the formula which has been in place for more than 20 years should remain. The traditional Audi Hamilton Island Race Week welcome parties will be held on Friday, 19 August and the first day of sailing is scheduled for the following day. The always entertaining trophy presentation dinner will be held on the evening of Saturday, 27 August following the final day of competition.

At the time of her launching in England, S/Y Condor was recognised as the world’s most technologically advanced ocean racing yacht: she was the largest of her type, built from Kevlar over a unique aluminium space-frame and boasted the tallest single-piece aluminium mast.

Following her Hobart race win in 1983 she claimed line honours a second time in 1986. During her Grand Prix racing life she was credited with being the only yacht to take line honours in all of the world’s major offshore events.

These days the grand old lady has retired into a more leisurely life as a charter yacht in Queensland’s tropical Whitsunday Islands region, and with the wonderful waters of the Whitsundays being the course area for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, it’s not surprising that yacht Condor has made some impressive appearances at the regatta in recent times.

In last year’s Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, maxi yacht Condor grabbed the limelight by having four likeable larrikins from the outback mining town of Mt Isa in the crew, and this year the yacht’s owner, Dave Molloy, has got the jump on everyone by having Condor registered as the first entry for the big event.

Last year the ‘Four Amigos’, as they became known, formed Mt Isa Cruising Yacht Club over a few beers in a pub 600 kilometres from the sea, then, while having zero sailing experience, turned up at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 looking to compete – because they wanted to ‘start at the top’. By the end of the regatta they’d done every race aboard Condor and somehow managed to bob up at just about every social function during the week. They were interviewed on Race Week Radio, made headlines in the national media and had a jingle written about them. Additionally, their front-man and club ‘commodore’, Greg Fietz, decided to impress everyone at home by having his photo taken with international television star Dannii Minogue and her new baby, plus many of the attractive models who were on the island for the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week fashion parades.

His reasoning for this effort was simple: ‘In Mt Isa the ratio of men to women is seven-to-one, so to land a good one you have to stand out.’

Already, this far in advance of Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011, Condor has been joined by five other yachts as entries for the regatta. They come from Victoria, NSW and Queensland and will be part of a fleet expected to top 200.

Hamilton Island Race Week’s naming rights sponsor, Audi, is Australia’s largest corporate sponsor of yachting.

Sailing Yacht LOKI winner of the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010

August 29, 2010

In the incredibly close finish in the four year history of the Audi IRC Australian Championship, Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki yacht and Harvey Milne’s sailing yacht Aroona went-blow-for-blow in the fourth and final event at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week to decide the winner, and this afternoon, Ainsworth received Australia’s richest prize in sailing.

Loki Yacht at the 2010 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Image Andrea Francolini

Representing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, Ainsworth, who launched his Reichel/Pugh 63 in December 2008, did not realise he had won the Championship until this afternoon, thinking his main foe Milne had beaten him to the punch after the results see-sawed between the two all week.

In the end, Loki won by a mere 0.31 of a point after finishing the four-event series on 13.21 points, with Aroona second on 13.52 and Peter Horn’s King 40, Canute, was third on 18.53 points. All three yachts come from NSW.

Ainsworth was understandably over the moon when Audi Australia’s Managing Director, Uwe Hagen, presented him with the keys to a brand new A5 Cabriolet 2.0 TFSI quattro S tronic valued at over $90,000 at Hamilton Island Yacht Club this afternoon. Loki‘s owner was also presented with the elegant Perpetual Trophy designed by John Woulfe.

“It was a battle to the end, but obviously the best boat and crew have been victorious,” Uwe Hagen said on handing Stephen Ainsworth the keys outside the Hamilton Island Yacht Club this afternoon.

Loki in action - Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 - Image Andrea Francolini

“I’m speechless,“ Ainsworth said when told of his win. “I was sitting on my boat this afternoon thinking “I’ve lost the Audi; you’ve made my wife very happy, because I promised her the car if I won it – she’s been checking it out to see if the golf clubs will fit in the boot,“ he said.

Ainsworth confessed he had taken his wife Nanette and friends sailing in today’s final race, thinking he had just missed out on winning. “I even steered to give Gordon (Maguire) a break for the day – we just went out to have a bit of fun.“ Fortunately, that fun translated into a second place.

There was plenty of support at presentation for the well-liked yachtsman, including Hamilton Island owner Bob Oatley, and Hamilton Island Yacht Club commodore Iain Murray.

On being presented with the keys to his new car, Ainsworth said: “I go out to sail and to enjoy racing, because I love sailing – to win the Audi is a bonus. I thank my great crew – what a roller coaster ride this has been.“

Now in its fourth edition, the Audi IRC Championship starts with Audi Victoria Week in January, a mixture of offshore and bay racing. Round 2 is the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta in March, sailed inshore and offshore, followed by the 386 nautical mile Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race at the end of July and climaxing with Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, contested in the magical Whitsunday Islands, where over 200 entries enjoyed the full gamit of conditions over seven testing days of racing.

It takes everything one can muster to win yachting’s pre-eminent Championship, in which 144 boats took place this year, but to do so when your main rival is racing in another division (Loki in IRC Grand Prix and Aroona in IRC Passage 2, in which Canute also raced), demands a certain audaciousness.

Both boats crews’ also had to fight off advances from other Championship contenders from within their respective divisions, the Championship taken out of their control to a certain degree, leading to a rousing finale.

In the ring for the final round and punching above her weight was the Archambault 31 Aroona, her rival, the Reichel/Pugh 63 Loki, was at her best in the hands of Irish sailing boffin Gordon Maguire.

Loki settled in early, running away from main contender Living Doll, a Farr 55 owned by Michael Hiatt from Melbourne, reeling off two bullets in the opening races and continuing on for a runaway victory, but Aroona’s crusade went to the wire. Milne came into the final day locked on equal points with Local Hero from Sydney and finished second in division to her nemesis.

Harvey Milne gave himself the best chance of winning the Championship by contesting all four events, of which the three best results count in the final tally. However, he didn’t bargain with the power of Loki, which won its division in the latter three events.

On winning Division 1 at the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, Ainsworth said: “Absolutely I’ll be at the remaining regattas; I’d love to win an Audi and I’d really love to have my name on that Championship trophy.” Today he got his wish.

Such is the dedication of Ainsworth’s crew, under the watchful eye of Gordon Maguire, they were in a class of their own in the IRC Grand Prix division at Hamilton Island this week where Ainsworth pumped out five wins from nine races; their worst result a fourth place which was used as their drop. They are undisputedly, the best yacht and crew in Australia this year.

A new scoring system was put in place for the 2010 Audi IRC Australian Championship which has worked well. “The perception was it was easier for the smaller divisions to win, so we have a new formula to calculate the winners of each event this year,” Principle Race officer Denis Thompson said.

The fifth edition of the Audi IRC Australian Championship, endorsed by Yachting Australia, commences with the 2011 Audi Victoria Week starting January 20.

In a first for the Championship series, major sponsor, Audi, has partnered with ONE in 2010 and the highlights from each regatta will be shown nationally following each round of the series.

Highlights from Round 4 of the Audi IRC Australian Championship can be viewed on September 27 at 8.30pm on ONE.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Friday results

August 27, 2010
Stephen Ainsworth’s Reichel Pugh 63, Loki, has strengthened its grip on the IRC Grand Prix division with a handicap win and a third in today’s two windward/leeward races on the eastern course area on the penultimate day of racing at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

Sailing yacht Loki at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Photo Andrea Francolini

The Sydney boat has hit its strides this year, winning the Audi Middle Harbour Regatta and Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, and is now in pole position for tomorrow’s Lindeman Island which is due to start from the eastern starting line with the cruising fleets first away from 9am.

Ainsworth has finished bridesmaid at Race Week with his previous Loki, the 60 footer which broke its keel and was abandoned during the 2007 Rolex Middle Sea Race, and is now poised to take out the Grand Prix series, currently on 11 points with Michael Hiatt’s Victorian Farr 55 Living Doll trailing a distant 12 points behind.

Jim Farmer’s modified New Zealand TP52, Georgia, helmed by Farmer and Chris Meads with Chris Dickson calling tactics, has been steadily moving up the results sheet and today collected first place in race 8, beating Peter Harburg’s RP66 Black Jack on handicap with Loki third.

Farmer, who competes all over the world, believes Race Week in its entirety – including the race management, organisation, the social program and the opportunity to race around the Whitsunday Island – is the best regatta on the circuit. Once Race Week is done and dusted Farmer plans to leave the NZ IRC Champion in Australia for the next 12 months with the Rolex Trophy and Audi Victoria Week already pencilled on the calendar.

Line honours in today’s two windward/leeward races went to Lahana and Peter Harburg’s Black Jack.

There was less spray over the decks in the lighter conditions, which averaged 12 knots out of the south east, but crews still donned wet weather gear to ward against the cooler temperatures.

The Passage Division 2 overall win is at Ray Roberts’ fingertips, the seasoned yachtsman’s three wins, two seconds and a third putting the chartered Farr 42 Evolution Racing in pole position going into tomorrow.

On the eve of the closing race, the New Zealand South Pacific Cup team of Georgia and Wired hold a two point advantage over the Australian team of Shogun and Nikon Spirit of the Maid.

The four-part Audi IRC Australian Championship, which began with Audi Victoria Week back in January, will be decided and the 2010 IRC champion announced once the results of tomorrow’s final race are determined and the pointscore tallied.

Including today’s race, Harvey Milne’s Archambault 31 Aroona has extended its lead over Loki, currently leading with 9.57 points against Loki’s 13.38 points.

Results in tomorrow’s 23 nautical mile Lindeman Island race will be crucial for the divisions where the leading contenders are separated by the smallest of margins.

Mt Isa Boys take over Audi Hamilton Island Race Week

August 27, 2010

Larrikin Greg Fietz, a spray painter and panel beater from Mt Isa, his older brother and a couple of close mates who all grew up together in the Queensland mining town and had never sailed before have become minor celebrities at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

Mt Isa Boys at the Hamilton Island Race Week - Image Andrea Francolini

In the sailing world Fietz has risen from obscurity to the point where he’s high fiving Wild Oats XI skipper Mark Richards in the street. He’s offered himself to ‘Ricko’ as crew on the 100 footer for this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart and last night had his photo taken with Dannii Minogue, partner Kris Smith and baby Ethan at the Henri Lloyd fashion parade, immediately sending the image to his disbelieving wife.

“It’s a week never to forget, where we come from you don’t see anything like this,” said Fietz, the self appointed Commodore of the newly founded Mt Isa Cruising Yacht Club, the landlocked club with no clubhouse, Constitution, water or boats, which currently boasts a membership of three.

Mt Isa is more than six hundred kilometres from the nearest ocean but yet Fietz had heard so much about Race Week that last November he decided it was time for a change from the bush so rang Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson who encouraged the group to make the trek to the coast, sure that rides could be found.

David Molloy, owner of the Queensland 83 foot charter boat Condor, a two-time Sydney Hobart line honours winner, spoke to his guests who kindly agreed to take the four extras.

Four turned to three when Rifet Turcinovic, who grew up in Mt Isa, dislocated his wrist in a shore side incident following Sunday’s second in Cruising division 1 result and was taken to Mackay Hospital for medical treatment.

With an important morning game of golf booked at the Dent Island Golf Course on Tuesday’s layday, Fietz acted quickly once he received the call from Turcinovic on his hospital release. A helicopter was chartered and landed on Dent Island where an Audi was dispatched to take the one-armed player in a cast to his starting tee.

“I had a couple of shots and drove the buggy, I was really there for support,” Turcinovic said.

The biggest issue for the boys in the lead up to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week was what to wear. There were many phone calls to Thompson and promotions manager Rob Mundle who talked them through a typical yachties list of what to pack.

“We didn’t know what to pack other than socks and jocks; we were like a bunch of kids ringing each other all the time, then I’d have to ring Rob to check what he thought,” said Fietz.
The Mt Isa boys – as they have become known – of Fietz, his older brother Graham, Turcinovic and Dave Rutherford, have been interviewed on Race Week Radio, spoken about in the media, had a jingle written about them, and of course Fietz has holiday snaps of himself and Dannii Minogue plus the rest of the Henri Lloyd models.

Not really a shy bloke, Fietz explains why, “In Mt Isa the ratio of men to women is seven to one so to land a good one you have to stand out”.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week – A regatta of contrasts

August 26, 2010

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is a regatta of true contrasts, with the largest yacht from the 200 strong fleet is the giant superyacht Kokomo at 58 metres and the smallest the 6.1m SB3 design which began fleet racing yesterday in the three-day SB3 Wild Oats Challenge.

The biggest boats need many pairs of hands and tonnes of grunt to operate, with up to eight muscle men from a crew of 20 required to carry the 200 odd kilo sails to the foredeck, while on the smaller boats, the less crew the better given the weight consideration.

Yachts at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week

It’s mega budgets versus the smell of an oily rag price tag, power versus hand winches, professional crew paid a handsome daily rate and put up in accommodation by the owner versus those who have flown themselves to Race Week and are staying on boats, lulled to sleep at night with the sounds of the band performing on the main stage.

When it comes to defined roles on the boat, the big boats don’t just have tacticians anymore. These days they have a tactician and strategist, the two people who whisper in the skipper’s ear constantly feeding them information and allowing him or her to concentrate solely on their driving. One of the best in the business, Iain Murray jokes he even has someone to tie his shoes when he’s helming the Sydney based 66 footer, sailing yacht Wild Oats X.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Regatta

On the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s Swarbrick S111 Sandpiper, which is racing in Cruising Division 1 and happens to be the slowest in division, it’s a slightly different scenario.

Owner/skipper Colin Pruden is not only on the helm, he’s also the foredeckie. This means throwing the wheel to one of his crew before running the length of the boat to clip up the spinnaker at the bow.
“It works a treat, it has to,” says Pruden.

He draws the line at packing kites though, one of the evils of being the for’ard hand, particularly in the tropical Whitsundays when you have to go below in the sweat bath while the crew on deck enjoy the trade winds on their tanned cheeks.

Sandpiper was built in 1983 in Western Australia and has been sailed in the Whitsundays for the past 20 years by its five owners.

Pruden bought Sandpiper six years ago with this year’s Audi Hamilton Island Race Week his first with his own boat. He might be racing in the cruising division but Pruden’s still taking it seriously, stripping the boat of its heavy cruising gear for racing, “the cruising version’s at home in the garage,” he jokes.

It’s a revolving door when it comes to race crew, whoever has a day off from work comes over from Airlie Beach by ferry and jumps on the boat. A regular is Pruden’s wife Katherine, who he normally sails against in club races. For this regatta he decided it’s wiser to side with the enemy. “She’s a very good sailor, she’s very competitive though and things can become heated when we sail on different boats and against each other.”

Today’s forecast for up to 25 knot S/SE winds is just what the doctor ordered for Sandpiper. “If we can get good pressure we tonk along. It’s an older design and we can’t keep up with the modern boats upwind, they disappear.”

And there’s still the secret weapon yet to be revealed sitting on the dock. “Without giving away anything, let’s just say we hopefully have all bases covered,” warns Pruden.

The cruising fleets are enjoying their second layday while the IRC divisions and SB3s are heading out for day five of competition in the best pressure of the regatta.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week – Day Five Update

August 26, 2010

The fifth day at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week was wetter and colder than the previous days in the Whitsundays Islands, with t-shirts and sunscreen were exchanged for full wet weather gear in readiness for a hosing down.

Racing Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - 26 August 2010- Image Andrea Francolini


With the air temperature 10 degrees lower than the previous balmy days, gusts up to 26 knots out of the southeast and a choppy sea state, there was plenty of crashing and bashing when the fleet poked its nose out into Whitsunday Passage and felt the full force of the prevailing winds.

The IRC Grand Prix and IRC Passage divisions set off from the eastern start area against wind and tide following a short postponement while the line was re-set.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Image Andrea Francolini

The 50 footers tacked off early while the RP66’s Wild Oats X sailing yacht and Black Jack yacht hung on the left side before flicking over for the reach across the northern tip of Pentecost Island, the two sisterships locked in combat as their five day grudge match continued.

Sails were flapping and rigs rattling through the tacks, and that extra serving of bacon and eggs came in handy as crews hunkered down on the rail to get the weight out and the boat flat in the water.

The for’ard hands copped a drenching, photographer Andrea Francolini snapping a shot from the air of Loki’s bowman, young round-the-world yachtsman Morgan White, with just his hand on the lifeline visible through the whitewash as Stephen Ainsworth’s RP63 buried its nose.

For the IRC Grand Prix division, race six of the week-long series was a 27 nautical mile course around Ann Island, Spitfire Rock then a reach to Pine Island and a spectacularly quick spinnaker run and finish in Dent Passage off Hamilton Island Yacht Club.

Line honours went to the Iain Murray skippered Wild Oats X from Peter Millard and John Honan’s 98 footer Lahana by just 12 seconds, one of the closest finishes in the event’s 27 year history.

Michael Hiatt pushed his Farr 55 Living Doll from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria mercilessly in the decent blow, hitting a top speed of 24 knots and claiming the outright win from Rob Hanna’s TP52 Shogun sailing yacht and yacht Loki in third.

“The old twin rudders did their job today,” said a very pleased Hiatt this afternoon. “We had a fantastic reach across to Pine Island, and we were fast upwind today.”

In the IRC Passage Division 1 results, Graham Mobuckson’s Middle Harbour Yacht Club boat, the lovely Custom 18.5m German-Frers designed Margaret Rintoul V, took out the 22 nautical mile race win.

Following a third today on corrected time, Ray Roberts’ chartered Farr 42 Evolution Racing is still the one to beat in the IRC Passage Division 1 pointscore, currently six points out in front of Stewart Lewis’ head turning racing yacht Ocean Affinity, a stunning black Marten 49 from Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Day 5 - Photo Andrea Francolini

The rest of the IRC Passage 2 division must be contemplating whether sabotage is the only way they can get a look in with ACT sailor Matthew Owen’s BH36 Local Hero yacht and Harvey Milne’s Aroona hogging the limelight once again.

This time it was Local Hero’s turn to beat the Sydney boat, their third win from six races, to be a point ahead on the series ladder.

In the Audi IRC Australian Championship results sailing yachts Loki and Aroona have gone tit for tat at Race Week, the final event of the four-part Championship, with Loki back out in front on 13.18 points, 0.47 of one point clear of Aroona counting today’s race.

It’s been a slow week for repairs for the mobile sail lofts and sail makers on Hamilton Island, but today the jobs began to flow with a number of spinnaker melt downs including Nicholas Bartels’ Melbourne Cookson 50 Terra Firma and Lahana yacht which managed to save a tear in their A4 chute from splitting the kite in half by sailing low until they could peel to another spinnaker.

All others divisions enjoyed a second layday today.

The entire fleet will be racing tomorrow from 11am, the scheduled start time for the first windward/leeward race for the IRC Grand Prix fleet with the remaining divisions beings sent on an around the islands race starting from the southern start area.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week – Day Four

August 25, 2010

The day 4 at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week had the best sailing conditions so far. If you were mixing the perfect sailing cocktail it would be made up of one part 15 knot trade winds, one part sunny skies and a temperature of 24 degrees and one part frolicking humpback whales with the main ingredient 200 boats racing on turquoise waters with the stunning Whitsunday Islands their backdrop.

Day Four at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Image Andrea Francolini

Following a postponement ashore this morning while the breeze settled, that exact recipe was what was served up at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week for day four of racing, the best sailing conditions so far. With the promise of a 20-25 knot south east change tomorrow the grins are this afternoon even wider on the sun-tinged faces of the two thousand odd sailors contesting the 27th edition of Australia’s premier keelboat regatta.

The huge fleet was split up today with the race committee, under the leadership of Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson, running a number of different start areas and courses.

For the first time at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week the SB3 class took to the waters, their designated course area to the north of Plum Pudding Island, and with a couple of sailing celebrities in their midst.  Round the world sailor Jessica Watson was on the bow of Lumix and the CEO of Hamilton Island, Glenn Bourke, a multiple world champion, Olympic and America’s Cup sailor stepped off the 30 metre Wild Oats XI sailing yacht to skipper Rod Jones’ 6.1m SB3, Club Marine Blue yacht.

The Superyachts took a day off racing today, creating an opportunity for the SB3 class to benefit from Bourke’s considerable expertise in one design racing, and with three wins from three races he hasn’t lost his touch. Being the gentleman he is, Bourke subsequently retired from all three races putting Phillip Gray’s Dulon Polish into first place on the SB3’s progressive pointscore.

Stephen Ainsworth’s RP63 Loki sailed another impeccable race, the 24 nautical mile course taking the Grand Prix fleet around Baynham and Pentecost islands, to maintain their leading edge in the series pointscore seven points clear of the nearest threat, the Iain Murray skippered RP66 Wild Oats X yacht owned by Bob Oatley.
With round the world sailor Anthony ‘Youngster’ Merrington calling tactics, respected Irish born Gordon Maguire on the helm, and a crew that has a champion’s aura, Loki is making a big imprint on the Race Week scoresheet, clocking up four overall wins and a fourth, their worst result.

Peter Millard’s 98-footer Lahana yacht from Sydney is leading the IRC Grand Prix ‘gun boat’ for the most number of line honours scalps from five races.

The Performance Racing fleet had their first windward/leeward races today on the eastern course area to the south of Fitzalan Passage in the 12-15 knot south east breeze and bumpy seas. Points are tight at the top of the division two results with just two points separating the first four places, led by Ian Ford’s Beneteau 40.7 Whalewatchingsydney, and a similar situation in division one.

Action on the fourth day of the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Image Andrea Francolini

Racing in Performance Racing is immediate past CYCA Commodore Matt Allen and Warwick Rooklyn’s Melges 24 Bandit, and the three Sydney black 32s – Hamilton Mentor, Lincoln Mentor and Ocean Mentor – donated by local resident Peter Teakle to Port Lincoln Yacht Club, Southport Yacht Club and Hamilton Island Yacht Club to foster youth sailing at those clubs.

With today’s results factored in, Harvey Milne’s Archambault 31 Aroona has reclaimed the In the Audi IRC Australian Championship lead from sailing yacht Loki, out in front on 9.99 points, Loki on 13.21 points and Peter Horn’s King 40 Canute on 21.75 points including one drop for each.

Crews only have one more day to prepare their boats and outfits for the Prix D ‘Elegance which will take place this Friday between 9am and 10am as the fleet leaves the harbour for racing. Prizes will be awarded in two categories:

The Best Presented Yacht and Crew (yacht in first-class trim, and matching crew uniforms)
The Best Fun-Themed Yacht and Crew (let your imagination run wild)

Kiwi yacht Georgia leads the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week

August 24, 2010

New Zealand sailing yacht Georgia is currently leading against the Trans-Tasman rival T52 yacht Shogun at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 - Image credit to Andrea Francolini

The Trans-Tasman rivalry of the biennial South Pacific Cup is in full swing at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week with New Zealand currently leading the defending Australian two-boat team by three points at the half way mark.The highly competitive Melbourne-based TP 52, Rob Hanna’s Shogun, racing this week with six-time Olympic sailor Colin Beashel calling tactics and North Sails’ Richie Allanson and Alby Pratt adding their weight, is up against New Zealand’s Georgia, skippered by ownerJim Farmer and Chris Meads.

Shogun recently won the NSW IRC Offshore championship while sailing yacht Georgia, a development of the Audi Med Cup winning TP52, Emirates Team New Zealand, is the current NZ IRC Champion.

A whale and her calf enjoyed the superyacht race at Audi Hamilton Island Race on Sunday 22 August 2010 - Photo Credit to Andrea Francolini

Australia’s second South Pacific Cup team yacht is Bruce Absolon’s Hamilton Island-based Nikon Spirit of the Maid yacht which is racing Kiwi Rob Bassett’s consistent 52-footer, Wired, in the Performance Racing class.

After a 10 year absence from Race Week, Auckland’s world class America’s Cup sailor Chris Dickson is calling tactics on Georgia. Returning to Hamilton Island this week, Dickson says he has noticed many changes both to the island resort and Australia’s premier keelboat regatta.

“It’s great to see how the island has matured and the regatta has come of age.”

“Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is now considered a very prestigious regatta by world standards; it all just seems to happen flawlessly.”

“When I was last here the regatta was trying to emulate and aspire to the major European regattas, now the tables have turned and I think the organisers of those regattas are looking at Hamilton Island.”

Image from the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Credit to Andrea Francolini

“There’s a very high level of racing and calibre of sailor here this week,” Dickson commented. Now retired from the long races, Dickson says his calendar is peppered with “good regattas sailing with good people”.

Built by Cookson Boats in Auckland, sailing yacht Georgia is the sixth in the family of Georgia Racing yachts owned by Auckland Barrister Jim Farmer and is modeled on the TP52 designed by Botin Carceek. Georgia was optimised for IRC racing and launched prior to last year’s HSBC Premier Coastal Classic which marked the beginning of a challenging race calendar for the new boat. At the time of the boat’s launch Farmer said he originally discussed purchasing the ETNZ boat after its first year’s racing, but instead decided to build a boat using the same hull mould but customising it for IRC racing and adding more interior space.

“Because Marcelino Botin had designed the Emirates boat and is a ETNZ’s America’s Cup designer and because of my own association with ETNZ, I was then able to put together this boat which achieved all the objectives of having a customised IRC boat but with the pedigree of a Transpac,” said Farmer.

Internal ballast was removed from the ETNZ design to accommodate a more comfortable interior, and a heavier bulb was applied. The deck and cabin top were re-designed to create more headroom below and the sail plan slightly larger for a slightly lower overall displacement.

“It’s all electric; in fact our one grinder is a woman,” added Dickson. “Jackie [Hendy] runs all the controls for the winches and the backstays. It’s a race hull with beautiful red leather upholstery and all the creature comforts below deck.” The New Zealand team of Georgia and Wired is currently sitting on nine points on the South Pacific Cup tally board and leading the Aussie team, which is on 12 points after four races with five remaining in the series. The Australian team won the South Pacific Cup against the Kiwis when it was first contested two years ago as part of the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week’s silver jubilee celebrations when the new trophy was commissioned.

Jessica Watson Tourism Queensland’s 2010/11 Sailing Ambassador

August 24, 2010

Young Australian sailor Jessica Watson has been chosen as  the Tourism Queensland Sailing Ambassador for 2010/2011, as announced by Steve Wettenhall Tourism Parliamentary Secretary and Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor.

Mr Wettenhall made the announcement at Jessica’s first official duty as sailing ambassador at the Hamilton Island Race Week – one of Australia’s premier sailing events.

“Jessica captivated the world during her seven-month quest to become the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world and now becomes the face of Tourism Queensland’s Season of Sailing,” Mr Wettenhall said.

“The Premier, Minister and myself are thrilled to have Jessica on board to promote Queensland’s Season of Sailing, which highlights the state’s fantastic sailing events from Brisbane to North Queensland.

Jessica Watson and Queensland Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Steve Wettenhall

“Jessica is a genuine Queensland inspiration and has developed an international profile, which makes her the perfect fit for the Season of Sailing campaign.

“Jessica has already succeeded in generating huge interest in sailing with people all over the world.”

Mr Wettenhall said Jessica’s duties would include featuring in a broadcast sailing special promoting sailing in Queensland and blogging about sailing events on her popular website.

“In addition to participating in a series of sailing events in 2010 such as Hamilton Island Race Week, Jessica will officially launch Queensland’s 2011 Season of Sailing,” he said.

“Jessica is a proud Queenslander and the Bligh Government is confident this partnership will raise the profile of Queensland’s Season of Sailing even further.”

Jessica said she was delighted to be part of the campaign.

She is also Queensland’s ambassador for the World Sailing Championships next year, which aims to get more people involved in sailing.

“I am happy to encourage more people to take up the sport of sailing,” Jessica said.

“The Season of Sailing offers everyone, from all age groups, an opportunity to get out there and give it a go.”

Tourism Queensland CEO Anthony Hayes said the $100,000 Season of Sailing campaign, launched in June, was already showing some fantastic results.

“To date the campaign has generated more than $1.5 million in publicity exposure for Queensland’s sailing events,” Mr Hayes said.

“Additionally, more than 8,200 people have visited the Season of Sailing campaign page.”

“Initial anecdotal reports from tourism operators involved in the campaign have indicated they are receiving bookings as a result of the campaign.

“This is a strong indicator that this new and innovative approach to marketing Queensland’s sailing events is paying off.”

Tourism Minister Mr Lawlor said said Tourism Queensland’s Season of Sailing campaign was the latest in a series of innovative campaigns designed to encourage more Aussies to escape the winter cold and make their way to warmer Queensland.

“Whether people are from a sailing background or looking for a fun holiday with a difference, enjoying our Season of Sailing is accessible for all,” Mr Lawlor said.

“Tourism Queensland is working closely with Yachting Australia through the campaign to ensure the message is reaching not only the sailing fraternity but also their friends and family.

“Tourism Queensland has also partnered with a range of regional tourism organisations, event organisers and operators to ensure they have the tools available to further spread the campaign’s message in their respective regions.

“Queensland is Australia’s premier sailing destination and it’s great to see so much interest already in the campaign.”

Whitsunday Islands Festival of Sails an outstanding success

August 23, 2010

The 2010 Festival of Sails proved to be another outstanding success with the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week and the prestigious Audi Hamilton Island Race Week showcasing the Whitsunday Islands as a world standard yachting destination.

Remarkably the two regattas developed from a grudge match race between the majestic barque Dahlia and the traditional pearling lugger Torres Herald for a bottle of Bundaberg Rum over forty years ago now attract over 300 yachts to race in the tropical sailing paradise.

Many of the crews and their families break the ‘shackles’ from the colder latitudes of New Zealand, Tasmania, Victoria and many other ports south of the Tropic Of Capricorn to record the warm Whitsunday sailing experience in their personal long books.

Not every individual sailor arrives with the expectation to win a regatta medal they simply pack their seabag then man the weather rail to enjoy the friendly fellowship of racing with good mates against some of their best mates.

The Whitsunday regatta racing has become a tradition for the popular Victorian skipper Michael Hiatt and his Living Doll crew who successfully defended their IRC championship at the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week and remain as a strong contender to successfully defend their Grand Prix class win in the prestigious Audi Hamilton Island Race Week on Saturday.

Sailing yacht Loki at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 - Photo Credit Andreay Francolini

Sailing yacht Loki at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 - Photo Credit Andreay Francolini

However Stephen Ainsworth and his high performance sailing yacht Loki crew who outpaced the competitive IRC class fleet to win the opening three races stands as the championship pacesetter.

But sailing yacht Living Doll remains as a threat after leading Victorian team mates Scarlet Runner (Robert Date) and the Nicholas Bartels helmed Terra Firma to a clean sweep of the major points in the short course Pentecost Island race last Monday.

The more consistent form shown by the Gordon Maguire steered Loki which includes wins in the Audi Sydney Harbour regatta followed by another impressive victory in the 348 n/ml Sydney to Gold Coast race in late July suggests they will be the crew to beat when the sails are tensioned in the final race over the 23n/ml Lindeman Island course on Saturday.

Loki also remains as the front runner to win the 2010 Audi Australian IRC championship while the battle for the line honours ‘Gun Boat’ of the regatta title between the 30 m maxi sailing yacht Lahana and her match racing 20m rivals yacht Wild Oats X and Black Jack is poised to remain undecided until the three yachts cross the finish line off the Hamilton Island Yacht Club in Saturday’s final.

Whale with Sailing yacht Wild Oats XI in the background at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 - Photo Credit Andreay Francolini

Whale with Sailing yacht Wild Oats XI in the background at the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2010 - Photo Credit Andreay Francolini

Size and sail power favours sail yacht Lahana to add the Gun Boat trophy to her record breaking 22 second line honours win over S/Y Wild Oats X in the recent Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel ocean race.

However the tactical pressure remains focused on the Lahana crew to keep their bow in front of the Iain Murray skippered sailing yacht Wild Oats X and the Mark Bradford helmed Black Jack who stand to present a speed sailing challenge with the expected forecast of squally trade winds.

 By Ian Grant.

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