Festival of Sails - Hooligan defends IRC Australian Championship title

by Lisa Ratcliff on 24 Jan 2013 Festival of Sails 2013 is being held in Geelong, Victoria, from 24th to 28th January. Marcus Blackmore’s black-hulled TP52 Hooligan from Sydney is at the Festival of Sails to defend its Audi IRC Australian Championship title. Today’s opening results left no doubt about the boat’s slickness on flat water, or the gifted crew’s ability to achieve back-to-back wins for the owner.

Hooligan collected three firsts from three starts to finish the day with a perfect score of three points, five points clear of the nearest boat, Rob Hanna’s Shogun V, another consistent finisher with a second and two thirds overall.
As always Blackmore, widely regarded a nifty owner/driver, has surrounded himself with the best in the business, including North Sails’ Richie Allanson, Terry Wetton and round-the-world yachtsmen Tom Addis, Dave Rolfe and Stu Bannatyne, among other stars.

Blackmore joked this afternoon that it’s the keenness of his round-the-world crew to get home that brings them back to shore so quickly.

'Today went better than we expected, Calm 2 was an unknown quantity and Shogun is always there,' said Blackmore back at Royal Geelong Yacht Club late this afternoon. 'It was a great start to the regatta but tomorrow is another day and with a bit of breeze the whole world could change.'

On a hazy Corio Bay, due to the grassfires burning on the opposite side of Port Phillip Bay, race one got underway in a light easterly that swung marginally to the east and had built to 10-12 knots by race two.

Yachting photographer Andrea Francolini announced during the early part of the day, 'There are more knots in my hair than out here'.

Conditions for the final race remained fairly consistent, the breeze dropping out slightly by the finish, back down to nine knots from the ESE. Race three’s starting sequence was interrupted by a massive left-hander, which forced the race committee to up anchors and re-set the starting gate and top mark.

The soft conditions and flat seas of Corio Bay suit the lightweight TP52s, which dominate division A in terms of numbers and so far, results.

Peter Harburg’s Queensland Reichel Pugh 66, Black Jack, named after Formula One motor racing legend Sir Jack Brabham, is really racing the clock rather than those in division A.

At 66 feet, the pocket maxi is well clear of the TP52s in terms of waterline length and therefore has to plan to spend the majority of its time in Geelong as a lonely only, out the in the lead racing in clear air against their handicap.

In Audi IRC Australian Championship division B, Bruce McCraken’s Beneteau First 45, Ikon, bucked the division A trend that favoured the lighter boats and came away from day one leading the division B pointscore from a fellow Beneteau 45 owner, Alan Woodward’s Reverie.

In Audi IRC division C, Grant Botica’s Royal Yacht Club of Victoria based Adams 10, Executive Decision, came away with two firsts and a second to be first overall, leading Roger Hickman’s Wild Rose from Sydney.
Tomorrow’s forecast southerly change means all the balls will be up in the air for the Championship contenders as they switch modes to long course racing.

The rest of the Festival of Sails fleet will make its way tomorrow to Geelong from off Point Ormond, Elwood, in the traditional Festival opener, the Melbourne to Geelong passage race.

 

Series Results [IRC Div1] up to Race 3
Place	Ties	Boat Name	Sail No	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		Hooligan	AUS521	Marcus Blackmore	3.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
2		Shogun v	AUS280	Rob Hanna	8.0	3.0	2.0	3.0
3		Calm 2	SM2052	Jason Van Der Slot	11.0	2.0	4.0	5.0
4		Black jack	52566	Peter Harburg	13.0	4.0	3.0	6.0
5	2.0S	Calm	SM5252	John Williams	14.0	6.0	6.0	2.0
6		Celestial	421	Sam Haynes	14.0	5.0	5.0	4.0
7		Frantic	GBR5211L	Michael Martin	21.0	7.0	7.0	7.0

 

Series Results [IRC Div2] up to Race 3
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Design	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		H1010	Ikon	Bruce McCraken	HBYC	Beneteau 45 First	6.0	1.0	2.0	3.0
2		B26	Reverie	Alan Woodward	RBYC	Beneteau First 45	7.0	2.0	1.0	4.0
3		38011	Ginger	Leslie Green	CYCA	Mc 38	11.0	7.0	3.0	1.0
4		10101	Equinox ii	Anthony Dunn	CYCA	Rp42	11.5	5.5	4.0	2.0
5		G14	Senna	Brendan Garner	RGYC	Beneteau First 45	14.0	3.0	6.0	5.0
6		B63	Schuss	Denis McConnell	RBYC	Beneteau First 45	16.0	4.0	5.0	7.0
7		AUS5585	Local mocean	Steven Richardson	RGYC	Farr 40 Od	18.5	5.5	7.0	6.0

 

Series Results [IRC Div3] up to Race 3
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Design	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		R1121	Executive decision	Grant Botica	RYCV	Adams 10	4.0	2.0	1.0	1.0
2		4343	Wild rose	Roger Hickman	CYCA	Farr 43	7.0	1.0	2.0	4.0
3		A35	Archie	Sally Rattle	DSS	Archambault A35	8.0	3.0	3.0	2.0
4		A33	Invincible	Harold Clark	BYC	Farr 1104	11.0	4.0	4.0	3.0

Full Results