2015 Airlie Beach Race Week – Morticia holds onto her lead

by Di Pearson on 9 Aug 2015 2015 Airlie Beach Race Week – Multihull favourite, Shaun Carroll’s Morticia is holding onto her lead and has firmed as odds on favourite to take the title at Whitsunday Sailing Club’s annual regatta.

Skippered by noted sports boat sailor and ocean racer Chris Williams, Morticia, the Lombard 10.5 tri design, played second fiddle to Peter Wilcox’s Schionninggforce1500 designed Mojo, today.

Sailing a Passage Race from Pioneer Bay to Grassy Island return, Voodoo beat Morticia to the post by just over two minutes once the handicaps were applied. However, following her win of yesterday, Morticia leads the series by one point, with Mojo second and Andrew Stransky’s Fantasia in third.

The fleet started in light air just after 11.00am.

“Instead of sailing the rating game, which we normally do, we’ve set Morticia up to sail overseas at St Barts and at St Maarten Heineken Week – a few regattas in the med over an 18 month to two year period,” Williams said this afternoon.

“Our rating has gone from 983 to 1012 and we’re throwing as much horsepower as we can at the boat to be competitive on the world stage,” the Sydney sailor said.

Williams has been steering the boat for two years now, but says he is still at novice at multihulls. Nor did he expect them to win here, given the modifications to the boat that have affected its handicap.

“We didn’t expect to win here, because we are trying to learn to sail the boat again, we are learning from scratch, it is such a different boat,” he said.

Carroll, Williams and the crew will likely leave for the Med after the Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Race in January.

“It will likely be our last Australian regatta. When we return, Shaun and I will be doing the next Melbourne-Osaka double-handed race – the first time they have included multihulls,” Williams said.

Back on Airlie Beach Race Week, Williams said they had a good day yesterday, but things got off on a bad footing today.

“I stuffed up the start, got there a bit late and with the tide going out, crossed the line early, so had to go around the pin and re-start. We fought back well, but the pre-start was an ‘oh dear’,” he said.

His tip on who will win here at Airlie Beach? “It will come down to Fantasia, Mojo, Morticia and Mad Max. We’ll see what happens after two more Passage Races and a day of windward/leewards,” Williams said.

“This regatta is a good test for the boat and we once we got over the start, the team settled into the nice breeze of around 11-14 knots.”

Hosted by the Whitsunday Sailing Club, racing in the ‘Tropical Festival of Sailing’ continues tomorrow from 11.00am.

Multi-Hull Racing - Series results

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 2	Race 1
1	3002	MORTICIA	Chris Williams	RMYC	3.0	2.0	1.0
2	M165	MOJO	Peter Wilcox	MYCQ	4.0	1.0	3.0
3	641	FANTASIA	Andrew Stransky	MYCQ	6.0	4.0	2.0
4	V2	APC MAD MAX	George Owen	MYCV	7.0	3.0	4.0
5	M1480	RENAISSANCE	Mike Hodges	MYCQ	10.0	5.0	5.0
6	SA532	CARBON CREDIT	Peter Hawker	RSAYS	14.0	8.0	6.0
7	N888	THE BOAT WORKS	Julian Griffiths	NYRC	15.0	7.0	8.0
8	WH3801	J'OUVERT	Stephen Barton	RMYC	16.0	9.0	7.0
9	SA432	CROSSHAIR	Gerald Valk	RSAYS	18.0	6.0	12.0
10	339	QUICK SKIPS	Peter Millar	WSC	20.0	11.0	9.0
11	WH1093	COOL CHANGE	Bob Critchley	MYC	23.0	10.0	13.0
12	V3	BARE ESSENTIALS	Tim Pepperell	MYCV	23.5	12.5	11.0
13	N11	TWO UP TOGETHER	Justin Grunwald	RMYC	25.0	15.0	10.0
14	449	DUX NUTTS	Peter Boyd	RSAYS	26.5	12.5	14.0
15	BFC55	BAREFOOT	Warren Innes	CYC	29.0	14.0	15.0
16	W111	SIROCCO	M Arthur	WSC	33.0	16.0	17.0
17	PC101	NO PROBLEM	Ray Hobbs	PCSC	35.0	19.0R	16.0
18	AUS57	EARTHLING	Glenn Rutherford	MYCQ	38.0	19.0C	19.0C