Sisterhood alive at Hamilton Island IRC Australian Championship

by Lisa Ratcliff on 15 Jul 2015 The Hamilton Island IRC Australian Championship is drawing a top notch field across all divisions, from the two Reichel Pugh 66’s recreating past fiery encounters and the growing number of TP52s under new ownership through to the aged warrior, Roger Hickman’s 30 year-old Wild Rose, defending its IRC title.

Regatta director Denis Thompson and Hamilton Island’s CEO Glenn Bourke are ecstatic with the calibre of entry so far. They and Yachting Australia CEO Matt Carroll anticipate mighty contests across the three IRC divisions, starting Sunday August 16, 2015, to name a trio of new national champions at the series conclusion, on Sunday 22.

Sailing manager of Phil Turner’s RP66 Alive from Hobart’s Derwent Sailing Squadron, Duncan Hine, says their crew is yet to face the Wild Oats X team, made up of supermaxi Wild Oats XI’s core team. In Alive’s previous life, as Peter Harburg’s Black Jack, the then crews of the two 66-footers from the same design house sparred regularly and were evenly matched.

Back on board the now Tasmanian based RP66 for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is former helmsman Mark Bradford, this time in the tactician role. On the wheel is a brand new face, the current Farr 40 Australian President and co-owner of Voodoo Chile, Hobart neurosurgeon Andrew Hunn. “We approached Andrew as we thought he’d be a good helm for the style of racing we are doing at Hamilton Island,” Hine said. “We have a pretty stable crew and we mostly run a non-professional boat.”

Hunn and the team managed a day’s training last Saturday, July 11, 2015, before the Antarctic vortex dumping snow from the southern states to the Queensland border ruled out Sunday. It was his one and only practice run though he’s far from amateur when it comes to driving boats. The Tasmanian Male Sailor of the Year is a past MC38 and Melges 32 Australian Champion and current Farr 40 national champion aiming high for the class’ next world title in Sydney next February, 2016.

“I’ve always loved this boat [Alive] and the opportunity to drive and have Mark and his knowledge of it on standby made the decision simple,” Hunn said this morning. “The chance to race against Alive’s sistership is special; we know Wild Oats is going to be hard to beat.”

Hunn likened the first experience of driving Alive to steering his radical former canting-keeled boat called Mr Kite, only bigger. “It’s amazingly similar to drive only with extra horsepower, the size of the gear and the number of people.”

Alive is entered in the Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel race starting July 30 from Moreton Bay meanwhile Hunn leaves for California shortly for part of the Farr 40 American circuit. He’s nonchalant about separating from the program on the brink of the national championship, saying “the helmsman is the most interchangeable part of the program”.

Wild Oats is a professional sailing team and that’s the attitude they bring to every yacht race and regatta. The champion team with a scorecard that includes a record eight Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours wins and one overall under skipper Mark Richards is overseas getting match fit with the larger Wild Oats XI, soon to start the Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii.

Regular tactician Iain Murray is tied up with his America’s Cup regatta director role and Hamilton Island CEO Glenn Bourke, who last week skippered an Australian team to bronze at the SB20 World Championship on Lake Garda, is ably filling Murray’s shoes for Australia’s premier offshore regatta among the picturesque Whitsunday Islands next month.

Wild Oats X is an active day racer on Pittwater for owner Bob Oatley. To bring it up to regatta standard, in particular the Hamilton Island IRC Australian Championship, the bow, which was slightly raked, has been made plumb and sharpened, similar to the modifications to the stern of Wild Oats XI. A new hatch has been fitted in the foredeck so the crew can execute faster spinnaker drops through the use of a drop-line leading below.

TP52s always feature in the handicap honours and the building list of starters, now including Matt Allen’s latest Ichi Ban, formerly Shogun, will be the main division one adversaries for the two bigger Reichel-Pughs.

The IRC fleet will contest a mixture of windward/leeward and passage races over six days. Yachting Australia’s perpetual silverware plus prizes and take home trophies presented by series sponsor Hamilton Island will be awarded to the winning crews at the final gala awards evening on Saturday August 22.

Entries for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week incorporating the Hamilton Island IRC Australian Championship close on Saturday August 1, 2015.
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