News Around the World
Endless name changes but this monstrously powerful VPLP and Verdier-designed 100-footer will always be Comanche to us. Seen racing at Hamilton Island Race Week, the world’s fastest Maxi (in breeze… the big red puppy gets a bit glued down in the light) had an easier time of it than usual against the narrower and more slippery Wild Oats XI which missed a day’s racing with hydraulic problems. Interestingly, while every 100-footer is now completely hydraulic dependent, engines running non-stop whenever the boats are sailing, Comanche was originally a ‘sort of’ exception with the option of manual power for challenging course records. One of Australia’s sailing greats, John Winning Snr (left) has a go on the grinder; Winning took Comanche to Hamilton Island after recently renaming her Andoo Comanche…
gybe for gybe up Dent Passage on a 62nm course, with Andoo Comanche first home beating Oats by just under eight minutes. For the TP52s, on a shorter 48nm course, the newest boat in the
After two cancellations due to the pandemic it was a joy to be able
to return to the Whitsundays, and walking down Front Street on the first evening, past the buzzing food stalls and live band it took a long time to get to the yacht club, simply due to the wonderful stopping and greeting friends from all over the world who flew in for the 36th edition of a great regatta. And what a week it was… Day one was a perfect opener for the roughly 2,000 sailors on
214 boats competing this year. Sixteen divisions were split over two starts in Eastern and Dent Passage for the Molle Island Race, and the 15-18kt trade-wind conditions made life easy for the photographers, with whales, dolphins and turtles sharing the racecourse. Line honours went to Dale Mitchell’s Orma 60 tri Rex, with John Winning Jr’s Andoo Comanche setting the fastest monohull time on the 36-mile course. Day two saw a change in programme, with stronger southeast winds
forecast. All eyes were on the 100-footers Andoo Comanche and Wild Oats, plus the razor-sharp TP52s. The big boats matched each other
24 SEAHORSE
fleet, Max Klink’s Botin 52 Caro, with the majority of her crew flown in from Europe, was the clear winner beating Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban by nearly four minutes. Day three saw lighter conditions, but by now everyone’s thoughts were on the final days of the regatta with strong southerlies due to kick in. But first the Wednesday lay-day. Hamilton Island lay-days are the stuff of legend. The beach party at
stunning Whitehaven Beach, the pop-up Bloody Mary bar, the all-day pool party, lunch at Qualia or a game of golf on a tropical world-class course… one day that restored a lot of what has been missing in our lives over the past three years. Thursday opened with a solid 30kt gusting southerly dealing quickly
with any lay-day cobwebs. For the big boats a hydraulic issue prevented Wild Oatsfrom competing; as soon as Comanchewere advised of this they offered assistance with some of their own shore crew helping the Oats team late into the night. Day five again saw breeze, with a now-fixed Wild Oatsand Comanche
roaring around the islands. In the TP52s Ichi Banwas back and smoking, taking the day’s race, but Caro still led overall (from Matador) with Ichi Ban back in a very unfamiliar third… which is where she would remain to the end of the series.
SALTY DOG
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