Sailing Squark arks up after false start

Squark arks up after false start

'Audi Hamilton Island Race week 2008,BLACK JACK' Andrea Francolini / Audi &copy Click Here to view large photo

A jittery IRC Grand Prix division 1 fleet lined up for this mornings Whitehaven Beach Race off the Eastern starting line in Fitzalan Passage in a lighter soueast breeze and lumpy seas.

In the countdown to the 10.30am start signal the race committee was calling out those over the start line but for some it was already curtains, even for the headlining acts.

Peter Harburgs Brisbane based Reichel Pugh 66 Black Jack was 'a bit eager trying to get to the boat end of the start line' then found they couldnt manoeuvre in amongst the smaller end of the grand prix fleet and had to re-start.

Despite suffering at least a two minute penalty and a couple of other minor issues around the track, the dynamic duo of Etchells and 2007 Americas Cup sailor Mark Squark Bradford and his tactician, round the world sailor Peter Billy Merrington, managed to peg back the rest of the fleet to claim line honours by 20 seconds from Andrew Shorts 80 foot maxi Shockwave Club Marine.

'Its difficult to build speed and start with the smaller boats when the boats not very manoeuvrable. Thats the sacrifice you make sailing a big boat,' said Bradford minutes after claiming his third line honours win from six races.

Describing their entire race as 'a bit unorthodox', Bradford paid full credit to Billy Merrington. 'The tactics were superb...Billy got us out of trouble.'

Its rare for Mark Richards to miss a start but today he misjudged the line and was also individually recalled, sending the Bob Oatley owned Wild Oats X back to the start line once they heard the On Course Side call, which took a little time to filter through to the three-time Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winning crew.

Bob Steels TP52 Quest threw off yesterdays collision with Surprise Rock and subsequent damage, to record its second win on corrected time putting them one point behind Division 1 series leader Cougar II, Alan Whiteleys Melbourne based sistership to Quest.

Its a big effort bringing a boat to Hamilton Island from Melbourne and Whiteley is 'quietly confident' that its been well worth his while.

'We have no great expectations, we are just here to have a good series but having said that, the boys are not making any mistakes and the conditions have been similar to what we are used to on Port Phillip Bay,' said Whiteley this afternoon.

In IRC Grand Prix Division 2 Stephen Ellis modified Farr 40 Splash Gordon rallied to win todays race on corrected time from Nick Georges DK46 Exile.
Exiles second today has put them into the top three on the progressive pointscore which still has Rod Jones Alegria leading Ray Harris Honeysuckle by one point.

There were barely two boat lengths between Honeysuckle and Alegria at any stage today, the two creating some action at the top mark rounding when Alegria tried to shoot the mark inside Honeysuckle and almost drifted back onto it.

Kevin Hornes Elliott 9.6m Wild Spirit from Maroochy River beat the rest of the Performance Grand Prix fleet today, outsailing Garry Holders The Real Thing and Walter Carpenters Pacific 50 Samarkand.

As the IRC Grand Prix and Performance Grand Prix fleets kept themselves sensible for racing, the remaining divisions enjoyed their second lay day for the week. A steady procession of yachts of all shapes and sizes began heading out of Hamilton Island Harbour early this morning to join the locals and tourists whod already taken up position on the award-winning Whitehaven Beach.

A huge crowd gathers annually to enjoy the spectacular white silica sand, turquoise waters and to be entertained by the many planned activities including beach cricket and volleyball.

Today the Airforce Roulettes RAAF Aerobatic team wowed the crowd with their twists and turns at the Whitehaven Beach Party, the biggest social gathering of Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

Tomorrow the IRC Division 1 and 2 fleets will sail two windward/leeward races starting from Eastern start line and all other classes will sail a short around the islands race with the course yet to be announced.

Fridays forecast has the breeze building back up to 15-20 knots from the SE/E for the penultimate day of racing.

In the nine race inaugural South Pacific Cup the Aussies have a handy 20 point lead over the three boat Kiwi team.

by Lisa Ratcliff

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