SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week 2015- gotta beat Bob

by Tracey Johnstone on 11 Jun 2015 Peter Sorensen will be back competing in the SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week after a five year hiatus and his mission is to beat IRC rival Bob Steel.

Sorensen will be campaigning his Sydney 36, The Philosophers Club, at Airlie Beach ahead of the Australian IRC Championships, at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, which he has twice won. He will then bring the boat further north where he had a lot of fun in 2010 helming the Sydney 38 Zen.

He has noted that his mate Bob Steel will also be at Magnetic Island, this time with his new Quest, the slippery looking MAT 1180. “I saw that he will be there with his new boat. We are going to have some pretty serious racing against him. He has a brand new boat which he got designed for IRC racing, so we can’t let him win it,” Sorensen said.

In his usual direct style Sorensen clearly states his priority this winter is to challenge for the IRC championship and then, with a slightly different crew and with a less intense approach to the competition, head just a short distance further north to Magnetic Island. “The commitment will still be there. We always want to win.”

While Sorensen tries to sound relaxed about his approach to this year’s SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week, when it comes to discussing Steel’s entry, Sorensen’s competitive spirit quickly fires up. “We gotta beat Bob,” Sorensen stated.

Steel counted Sorensen’s quip with an even more cheeky comment. “How many wheelchairs and zimmer frames will he have on board ? I hope he bloody well beats us with the all the zimmer frames and wheelchairs we will have on our boat. It will be embarrassing if he doesn’t,” Steel said.

In recent years Sorensen and a group of three friends have been campaigning in Asia a Beneteau 44.7 which was originally owned by Matt Allen. The boat is now on the market and plans are afoot to buy a Farr 40 which Sorensen believes will be better suited to the light air events which dominate the Asian racing circuit. In the meantime the former 18 Foot Skiff World Champion is putting his energies into the Australian northern racing circuit.

Sorensen will campaign The Philosopher’s Club in IRC where the entry numbers are gradually growing. Already entered, in addition to Quest and The Philosopher’s Club, is David Currie’s modified Farr 40 Ponyo and Leon Thomas’ Guilty Pleasures. Wayne Miller’s Zoe is expected to be another entry in the coming month.

Registrations are open online at www.magneticislandraceweek.com.au for the ninth Annual SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week.