Heemskirk Tassie Trio Results

by John Curnow on 31 Dec 2010 Tasmania is named for the great Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman. His Flagship for his voyages was the merchant vessel, Heemskerck, which in turn gave its name to the mountain in Southwest Tasmania.

The title sponsor for the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s races to Tasmania, the Australian based, global mining company, Heemskirk Consolidated Limited, shares a lot of Tasman’s pioneering spirit. As such, their logo is a graphic representation of windswept sails, further tying their links with the seas and exploration.

Heemskirk Consolidated’s Executive Director, Corporate and Markets, Peter Bird said, 'We are so delighted to have everyone in to Launceston and Hobart, safe and well. It was such a great and enthusiastic fleet racing to Tasmania this year and they have all been talking about how much fun they had. They all had to work hard at various times to make the most of the strong winds, which exceeded 40 knots on the West coast and we applaud the crews’ seamanship in keeping it all tidy, with blown out spinnakers the worst of the damage.'

In the Melbourne to Launceston race, Ninety Seven took Line Honours. For the International Rule – Club (IRC) handicap class, Seven won from Ninety Seven and then Ocean Skins. The Australian Measurement System (AMS) is a popular class and Seven won over White Noise and Halcyon. In Performance Handicap (PHD), which rates both vessel and crew, White Noise was victorious over Ninety Seven and Magic.

For the Eastcoaster race to Hobart, Line Honours went to Goldfinger. In IRC it was Veloce for the second year running, with Goldfinger and then XLR8. AMS was Wild Side, Slice of Heaven and Escapade. PHD went to Veloce as well, then XLR8 and Goldfinger. Gusto took the Port Phillip Sea Pilots Trophy for first out the Heads and Line Honours in the Westcoaster race. Enchantress won IRC, AMS and PHD! In second place for AMS was Magazan 53 and Alien was third. In IRC, Slinky Malinky was second. They were the last boat to finish in 2009, a few minutes after midnight on New Year’s Day and they are incredibly thrilled with their improvement. In third place was Magazan 53. These last two boats also share the podium for PHD, but change places to have Magazan in second and Slinky Malinky in third.

Peter then added, 'The are so many accolades attached to our wonderful races this year. In the Launceston race, we had Andrew Steenhuis’ Seven take the marvellous, 103-year-old Rudder Cup home in their very first ocean race. That’s great and I am sure Andrew is very pleased with his new boat, as well. Over in the Westcoaster, we are all in awe of Trevor Huggard’s almost unbelievable record of 30 consecutive races to Hobart. He always says no two races have been the same and this time, Yoko the vessel he sails on, set a new record for the boat of 220 nautical miles in a day. That really is great for the Ben Lexcen designed boat, which completed her 29th run South, yesterday.'

'Of course, what a wonderful 60th Birthday present John Muirhead received, when he and the crew of his boat, Enchantress, swept the pool to take all three handicap classes. This was the South Australian crew’s first attempt at the mighty Westcoaster and they finished around the same time as much larger vessels. They seemed to enjoy their run in the Southern Ocean and we hope they will come back again.'

'When you have a boat like Goldfinger take 17 and a half hours of the Eastcoaster record and win the Red Wine Cup for the first vessel in to Hobart, you can run out of superlatives quickly. We applaud co-owners Peter Blake and Kate Mitchell and the crew can be justly proud of their magnificent achievements', Peter finished with.

Presentations are to be held at the Derwent Sailing Squadron on January 1, 2011 at 10am.

Further information can be found at www.orcv.org.au and www.hemskirk.com