2005 Hamilton Island Race Week

Hamilton Island Race Week had it all this year: a record fleet, a diversity of weather and the hottest IRC fleet ever assembled in Australia.

It was a recipe that promised a lot and delivered more. Sure, there was intense interest in Neville Crichton's headline-grabbing new Reichel/Pugh 98-footer Alfa Romeo Shockwave but the Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week, to give the event its full title, is a lot more than that. A hundred stories could be written about the event that boasted this year 207 yachts in six divisions.

To me, this event is not about line honours, it's not about the biggest boat, and it's not about who won IRC (although it would have been nice if we could have!). It's about the other divisions, it's about the smaller boats, the classic boats, it's about getting there, and it's about being part of this wonderful event in this most spectacular part of Australia.

The Whitsundays has to be the best, most accessible cruising area in this country, if not the world. It's easy to sail to, well serviced by airlines, and has well equipped safe harbours and ports such as Hamilton Island, Mackay and Airlie Beach.

For these reasons and more, the annual event has grown enormously over the past two decades. In fact, Hahn Premium Race Week was recently named as winner of the Significant Festivals and Events category at the annual Australian Tourism Awards.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOUR
The event this year was truly international with boats from Ireland, Hong Kong, Scotland, England, The Netherlands, and five from New Zealand.

Interestingly, there were twice as many boats from NSW as there were from Queensland with 95 from the former and 47 from the latter; there were 38 from Victoria, eight from WA, three from South Australia, one from Darwin and five from Tassie.

The Cruising Division boasted the greatest number of boats with 99, making for a pretty hectic start line; there were 33 in IRC, 31 in IRC Cruising, 25 in Premier Cruising, 10 in Performance Cruising and nine in the Sydney 38 One Design fleet.

As mentioned, it was the hottest IRC fleet ever assembled here and with some very interesting boats therein. As expected, Shockwave was a highlight; and it was always going to be good to see Wild Oats and Wild Joe duke it out up near the top, the two new Cookson 50s battle it out, and the three DK 46s in full flight.

Reichel/Pugh also were represented by Graeme Troon's 46-footer XLR8 and Adelaide sistership Hardys Secret Mens Business.

Throw in a few other lovely boats like Leslie Green's Swan 45 Ginger and the historic Eun Na Mara from Melbourne and it really was a boat-perv's paradise.

The eventual 'winner' of Race Week is the boat which wins the IRC division and this year it was Bob Oatley's Wild Oats that took out honours, even surprising the helmsman Mark Richards who said in a press conference after the race: "We didn't expect to be in the hunt for the overall trophy but it's been a sensational week.

"We had a bit of everything, a really good mixture of weather," he added.

Wild Oats' win was somewhat unanticipated due to the expected dominance of Shockwave, but due to a poor showing in the long Edward Island Race and a retirement in the Baynham Island Race, Shockwave could do no better than third overall after a successful protest with fourth-placed Loki. Second was Wild Joe which, curiously, was the former Wild Oats.

While there were plenty of internal battles in the IRC division, the biggest 'race within a race' was in the Premier Cruising Class where no fewer than 11 Beneteau 47.7s took to the water in what was said to be the biggest gathering of 47.7s in the world.

Hot favourite was Bullrush, which was first 47.7 last year, followed by Ross Wilson's Eagle Rock, which yachting legend Lou Abrahams was aboard. Garry Anderson's Esprit from Melbourne was not to be ignored.

The Premier Cruising Division was eventually taken out by the lovely Sydney 47CR Jem, owned by John and Deb Baulderstone, followed by Eagle Rock and then Steve and Mary Chiodo with another Sydney 47CR, Gomez.

The 47.7 Class was won by Eagle Rock with Espresso Forte and Pretty Fly filling the rest of the podium.

The IRC Cruising Division had a real mixed bag of yachts with everything from classics to the latest from Europe competing. However it was always going to be hard to beat Michael Spies in his Beneteau 44.7 Dimension Polyant after his late swap to this division from IRC. Spies notched up four straight wins from the first four races to give him almost unassailable lead. Stephen Mackay's new Archimbault 40 Cabernet Sauvignon was second with Occasional Course Language third.

The Performamce Division nearly proved a Cavalier benefit with the 395 My Girl third, another 395 Cavalier Express second and local Jeanneau 40 Night Owl taking out the title.

JUST CRUISING?
Not on your life! The Cruising Division is almost as hotly contested as the IRC. With near a hundred boats in the division, you have to be very much on the ball to take win here. Obviously there might a few down the back of the fleet taking it a bit more casually (I did see a few smouldering barbies on pushpits and chilled articles in hands) but for the most part it's a damn hard school.

All manner of boats enter and it's handicapped under a performance rule that can see handicaps change after each race. A myriad of boats enter this class with many of the charter fleets having their boats booked by crews from all over Australia.

In terms of private yachts out there, I saw everything from a Nolex 25 through the bigger Beneteaus, including two new 57s, an S&S 52 from Melbourne, to the 68 Oyster, and of course, I was very happy to see Meltemi out of Brisbane which is an S&S 34 similar to mine. But mainly this division is the domain of the normal yachtie with a mid-size boat who just wants to get out there and enjoy the sailing and spectacular scenery.

Jeanneau had a clean sweep in the Cruising Division, amazingly taking the first three places. Robert Maidment's Le Bateau, a Sun Odyssey 45.2, was first with two wins, two seconds and a third; followed by Jamata, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 52.2 owned by Michael Milne of Sydney; and third was local boat Rex, a Jeanneau Deck Saloon 54.

Chomping at their heels was the lovely Oyster 68 In the Mood which revelled in the heavier conditions.

Speaking at the presentation dinner at the close of proceedings, event Director Warwick Hoban said that the Cruising Division is the heart and soul of the event: "With a hundred entries, this division really epitomises the whole spirit of Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week."

BEER AND SKITTLES
There's certainly more to Race Week than racing.There are parties going on all the time. The traditional Whitehaven Beach party on lay day, barbecues all over the place, the Moet and Chandon lunch, beautiful eateries on the island and plenty of places to either socialise or even just sit and get away from it all.

There are a couple of drinks to be had too after a hard day on the water. According to the Managing Director of Castlemain the equivalent of 85,000 stubbies of Hahn Premium were consumed.

OWNERS OUTLINE PLANS FOR HAMILTON ISLAND
There are some major plans afoot for one of Australia's favourite holiday playgrounds, according to the Hamilton Island's owners, Bob and Sandy Oatley.

The Oatley family, at the recent Hamilton Island Hahn Premium Race Week media conference, unveiled some new plans for the island. The plans include a stunning new yacht club with dual water vistas, new marina berths, a new 38-room luxury villa-style resort complete with dining, bar and conference facilities, a boardwalk around the marina village; dredging to create a deeper mouth in the harbour to bring in larger boats; new staff accommodation developments and a release of oceanfront land for private housing at Point Henning on the north-western side of the island.

Hamilton Island Chairman Sandy Oatley also announced that the final approvals for the long-awaited 18-hole championship golf course on Dent Island are just around the corner.

"We are terribly excited about the future of Hamilton Island and couldn't be happier with the progress that has already been made since we purchased the island two years ago," said Bob Oatley.

"Our new developments coupled with the existing facilities and the easy access through Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Blue flights makes Hamilton Island a world-class holiday choice that has something to offer everyone.

"We are building our home here and look forward to spending more time on the island — it's a top spot," he added.

THERE WE WERE...
Although I came back from Hamilton Island with plenty of bruises, a grazed head from the boom vang, more bark off me than a Beach Road tree and generally feeling as though I'd been involved in a low-speed hit and run with a flat-front Kenworth, I had a ball.

I'd been invited to sail on Philip Coombs' new yacht Dekadence and although as a journalist I got the urge more than once to correct the spelling mistake in the name, I eventually accepted it for the pun.

Dekadence is a DK46, a boat that has been recently doing well in Europe and one that is really a state-of-the-art IRC racer. Built in Malaysia, it sports a big carbon-fibre rig, rod rigging and the latest-technology sails from Quantum Sails.

Dekadence is quick upwind and a ball downwind. In the Whitsunday race, during a nasty squall, the boys picked up a wave and hit 20kt with the kite up. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I was on a camera boat that day taking shots, but on the last race to South Molle and Daydream Islands and back we had her rocketing along at 14–16kt with a stiff trade wind behind us.

But even with all that technology we were no match for the likes of Shockwave, Wild Oats, Wild Joe and Vanguard.

"A 46-footer used to be a big boat," mused Phil Coombs, while we were enjoying a cool drink after one of the races.

"But in the Hog's Breath regatta, Vanguard (a Lyons/Cawse 18m) were over the start line early and had to go back, then they blew up a kite, and they still beat us around the track by 10 minutes on corrected time! And we didn't have a bad race."

So we had to battle it out to see who would be the first of the 'little boats'.

Two other DKs, Hollywood Blvd from Sydney and Shogun from Geelong were our main rivals. Then there were the Reichel/Pugh 46s in Secret Mens Business and XLR8 to contend with as well as the IC45s in Pretty Woman and Rush. Wedgetail, a Melbourne 12.9m with a virtually identical handicap to ours, also harassed us.

However, despite a solid second in the 60-mile Edward Island Race, we were beaten by Hollywood and Secret Mens for the unofficial title.