AUSTRALIA Salute
Crews from the 234 entries across 14 divisions were met with light trade winds at the start of the 2019 Hamilton Island Race Week, giving everyone a calm introduction to a busy week of competition. Sunday and Monday saw the first two days sailed in patchy south- east breezes, giving the smart ones an opportunity to make gains in the multitude of wind shadows and complex tides here – or learn valuable lessons from their efforts. On day one in the multihull divi- sion Karl Kwok’s MOD 70 Beau Geste managed a corrected-time win over the four Extreme 40s in the fleet, with the other top boat of the day, Marcus Blackmore’s TP52 Hooligan, winning IRC division 1 from David Griffiths’ Maxi72 Chinese Whisper and the Oatley family’s DSS 66 Wild Oats X. Hooligan raced with her A-team onboard for this event, with navigator Will Oxley back for his 22nd race week and fresh from a Fastnet win on Wizard, Ky Hurst, still smiling about the SailGP victory in Cowes, and two-time VOR sailor Stacey Jackson keeping it tight and tidy from mid-bow. Day two saw another TP52 take IRC1, as Gordon Ketelbey’s Zen
beat Hooligan by 50 seconds on corrected time while IRC2 went to Ray Roberts onboard his Botín 40 Hollywood. With the gentle overture complete, regatta director Denis Thompson was monitoring a booming front approaching Hamilton Island on the Tuesday morning, bringing with it breezes of Wagnerian propor- tions which fired across Dent Passage and set the rigs in the marina singing. With the AP flag crackling in the gusts, much coffee was consumed ashore as Thompson was confident the breeze would ease late morning – and ease it did, for the fleets to be sent out wide-eyed and caffeined up, with breeze still in the high 20s focusing their attention. Onboard Beau Geste skipper Gavin Brady played it safe in the pre-start, aware some of his competitors were in new territory racing in these conditions, and so with plenty of eyes out of the boat we started well, blasting out on the seven-mile reach towards a small island forming the first turning mark. Standing on the net close to Brady on the windward helm, I was admiring our 18-22kt pace humming out of Dent Passage with two reefs in the main, until navigator Matt Humphries looked at me and with, it seemed, a little more of a glint in his eye than normal said, ‘You ready, Blue?’ Before I could answer we exited Dent Passage and now in clear pressure took off, accelerating like a refrigerator thrown off a cliff. It was extraordinary. My eyebrows lifted to about an inch above my sunnies – by now fully coated with salt spray. As we hit 35kt I was wondering what that booming noise was, then realised it was the blood pounding in my ears. It was phenomenal; half my brain was delighting at the sensation of trying to remain upright at this speed, while the other part was wondering how on earth the SailGP and America’s Cup crews function at 50kt (conclusion… they can keep that, thank you very much).
Racing at this blistering pace was a raw delight, skimming over the low swells while trying to dodge the blasts of spray fired back at us – but it was interesting to see the change in the crew. Matt Humphries and Gavin Brady are vastly experienced ocean sailors who are fairly laconic and laidback guys ashore. Not now. There was an essential edge to their language, making all communication direct, crisp and sharp – where one misunderstanding at this speed around today’s reef-strewn course would be catastrophic. It was clear why Karl Kwok is hooked on the MOD 70. This is a sensational boat, which Brady and his crew are tweaking and refining, improving the systems onboard and looking to break more records. Not today, though. As the breeze dropped sharply through- out the afternoon, leaving many of the fleet undercooked and shak- ing out reefs, our white-knuckle ride turned into a gentle glide home. Wednesday saw the lay-day, including golf, the pool party, the traditional Whitehaven beach rendezvous, plus, if you fancied some- thing a little more elegant, the Charles Heidsieck champagne lunch. Several spectators at the Hamilton Island Yacht Club thought they had overdone the lay-day festivities when on the Thursday morning they saw little green men dancing in front of their eyes. It was a relief and delight therefore to realise it was, in fact, Marcus Blackmore and his entire crew, dressed in bright green skin suits, dancing onboard Hooligan as it paraded in the Prix d’Elegance
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