Arajilla Stars at Airlie Beach

Geoff Pearson's Arajilla, the Archambault A35, was racing in her first regatta and was helmed by former Olympian Nev Wittey. Arajilla performed well all week and held her form to finish fourth on handicap on the final day, good enough for her happy crew to win the top trophy.

Pearson, co-owner of the Archambault 35 with Eric Stano, said: "She is a fast little boat and well rated. Nev Wittey has done a fantastic job; we've been sailing with Tim Olding from Melbourne, Nev's partner Janie and Phil Yeomans."

"It's very heartening to know that a little production boat with sails, costing just on 300K, can compete with boats costing five to ten times that amount."

"Of course, Rod Jones and the Alegria team have been getting top class results too, but today we can say 'Archie Arajilla wins at Airlie.'
Michael Hiatt's recently modified Cookson 50 Living Doll finished second with Quantum Racing third, on count back from rival Quest.
Quest, Bob Steel's TP52 with Martin 'Tacka' Thompson on the helm, won IRC Race 7 on handicap on the final day of race week.

Hong Kong entrant Beau Geste, the Reichel Pugh of Karl Kwok was second, with Ray Roberts' well campaigned Cookson 50 Quantum Racing in third.
In Premier Cruising, John Bacon's Hussy (Sydney 39CR) completed a good regatta with a handicap win in Race 6. John Moore's Sydney 36 This Way Up finished second and Esprit, Garry Anderson's Beneteau 47.7 was third.

Bacon has been hogging the trophies. In 2004, Hussy took the overall honours in IRC Cruising, and she repeated the feat this year being declared overall series winner in Premier Cruising. Consistency was her key, a third being her worst placing in the regatta.

"I love this place," beamed the Royal Prince Alfred sailor this afternoon."

"Today, I handed the wheel to Andy MacPhail and I did main; the crew were on fire. We had good boat speed and we did two top mark gybe sets which paid handsomely," Bacon said.

West Australian John Moore sailed his Sydney 36 This Way Up into second place with Esprit completing the podium placings.

In the Cruising with Spinnaker division, The Bigger Picture (Sydney 38, Penny McConaghy) won Race 6 on handicap, from local identity Don Algie's Storm 2 (Warwick 66) from the Whitsunday Sailing Club. Chris Stockdale's Kat (Beneteau 50) from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia was third.
Overall division winner was Storm 2 and the happy crew could be heard loudly cheering dockside as the news was announced.

Sunrise, Jeff and Helen Shipsey's Elan 37, was just one point behind in second place, with Hans On, Col Cox and Nick Thomas' Hanse 370e, third.  
"Not a bad regatta," said Algie (the regatta founder).

"I am pretty sure we will be back here again next year," he said.

In the Cruising Non Spinnaker division, Keith Munro's Bavaria 50 Time Lord won Race 6 on handicap from Bill Bailey's Elan 43 Relish IV. A good result for the 'locals' too, with John Hudson's Lady Hawk from the Whitsunday Sailing Club in third place.

The overall series winner was Lady Hawk from Delphian, John Sloan's McIntosh 47, and Fish Frenzy.

Stephen Keal's Frer 50 Fish Frenzy, formerly Cyclone, used to be called a slow moving depression, now she's been reconfigured as a pilot house sloop. Keal has interests in a couple of Tasmanian restaurants, hence the boat name.

The youngest crew member on the boat is 61. The oldest, 69-year-old Jim Buchanan, was hit on the final day by the boom on the last beat. There was blood on the teak for a while but dockside he received seven stitches from a NZ surgeon from Wired.

Saving the best till last, the Sports Boat fleet experienced the best breezes of the regatta on the final day. Race 8 on handicap went to Raptor, Mark Buchbach's Stealth 7 from the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Leon Thomas and crew in Rock n' Roll finished second, with Tom Jordan's Liquid Tactics third.

After sailing consistently throughout the regatta, Rock n' Roll, Thomas' Townsville based Thompson 7 won the highly prized class trophy, from It's What You Do, Brett Whitbread's Elliott 780, with Heath Walters' Melges Asia Pacific in third.

Thomas, who has sailed in the past six Airlie Beach Race Weeks, earlier on Guilty Pleasure and the last two times on the sport boat Diva, paid credit to the previous owner.

"I bought the boat just before the regatta from Keith Williams and it was just ready to rock n' roll," said Thomas.

Race director, Denis Thompson, said: "The new courses that Russell McCart (Meridien CEO and long time regatta entrant) and we (with Tony Debenham) laid out together were a great success. We plan to build on that next year.

"I'd like to especially thank the volunteers from the Whitsunday Sailing Club, who have again worked hard to make this event a great success for the sailors and for the Airlie Beach community," he said.

RESULTS: TOP 5 BY DIVISION