Audi Hamilton Island Race Week- Marcus Blackmore's Hooligan wins IRC A

by Lisa Ratcliff on 27 Aug 2011 A 28-year dream of winning the Grand Prix division at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week has been realised for Sydney yachtsman Marcus Blackmore.

Blackmore’s sleek, gun metal grey-hulled TP52 Hooligan had the series in the bag before today’s scheduled Molle Islands Race, which wasn’t sailed given the wispy puffs of only three knots from around the compass in the Dent Passage starting area.

The race committee hoisted the AP over A flag and the signal sounded across the marina advising all competitors there would be no further racing with all results at the close of yesterday final.

The cornerstone of Hooligan’s unrivalled success at this year’s Audi Hamilton Island Race Week and preceding regattas is, according to the owner/skipper, 'a champion team will always beat a team of champions'

Hooligan was originally Emirates Team New Zealand and when Blackmore purchased her last year she was the yacht to beat on the international TP52 class circuit in the Mediterranean.

Adolfo Carrau, yacht designer at Botin Partners, did the IRC conversion and found the winning formula; new keel and bulb, extended bow sprit and removing 800kg of lead out of the boat.

'Adolfo got it right, you never really know when you start fiddling with original designs,' said Blackmore.

Not only did Blackmore adopt Team New Zealand’s hull, he also adopted their disciplined philosophy, having spent a week with them.

'The overriding factor is whether you have a good crew,' said Blackmore. 'Our coach Victor Kovalenko set the rules early in the week and while there has to be a level of trust between a coach and the team, the crew were told that the second drink is one too many.

'They don’t call Victor ‘the medal maker’ for nothing.'

Hooligan’s top notch crew included Tim Wiseman, Ed Smyth, Tom Slingsby, Richie Allanson, Jason Rowed and Stacey Jackson, among others.

'We did a lot of homework on ourselves, and ran the numbers on other boats, particularly Loki and Living Doll. We didn’t leave any stone unturned in our preparation,' Blackmore added.

Of their result Kovalenko added, 'The winning combination of people and skills brought together lots of experience from different classes. Their performance was outstanding; they were always sailing right to the red line.'

Thanks to seven firsts, Hooligan finished the nine race series on nine points, incontestably out-classing last year’s grand prix winner, Stephen Ainsworth’s RP63 Loki, which was breathing down Hooligan’s neck on handicap until a torn mainsail at the start of Tuesday’s long race saw their chances slip away.

Loki finished second in Grand Prix Division on 19 points, third was Victorian yachtsman’s Rob Hanna’s TP52 Shogun on 23 points.

Blackmore’s dream of winning at Hamilton Island was ignited at the inaugural Race Week in 1984 when he won the Arbitrary Division with his 43ft sloop, The Manly Ferry. Ironically, he bought that yacht from Bob Oatley who, with his family, owns Hamilton Island.

Since January this year Hooligan has won every major series including Audi Victoria Week, Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta and the NSW IRC Championship at Port Stephens.

The culmination of the four-part Audi IRC Australian Championship 2011 and official prize giving will take place tonight at the award ceremony for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week where the silver spoils will be divided up among the divisional winners.

The new Audi designed trophies will be awarded along with the grand prize of Audi's dynamic A1 for each of the three IRC championship-winning teams. The awards and prizes will be presented by Audi Australia managing director Mr Uwe Hagen along with Yachting Australia board member Mr Matt Allen.

TV personality and Audi Ambassador Catriona Rowntree will emcee tonight’s gala event.

IRC Class A

Series Results [IRC Div A] up to Race 9 (Drops = 1)

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 9	Race 8	Race 7	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		521	HOOLIGAN	Marcus Blackmore	9.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	[2.0]	1.0	1.0	1.0
2		60000	LOKI	Stephen Ainsworth	19.0	5.0	2.0	3.0	[13.0F]	1.0	1.0	2.0	3.0	2.0
3		6952	SHOGUN	Robert Hanna	23.0	2.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	4.0	3.0	2.0	[5.0]
4		R55	LIVING DOLL	Michael Hiatt	34.0	3.0	4.0	5.0	2.0	3.0	6.0	5.0	6.0	[7.0]
5		10000	GEORGIA	Jim Farmer	40.0	4.0	5.0	6.0	4.0	8.0	5.0	4.0	4.0	[8.0]
6		SM5252	CALM	Williams Van Der Slo	43.0	6.0	7.0	4.0	5.0	5.0	3.0	7.0	[7.0]	6.0
7		SM24	TERRA FIRMA	Nicholas Bartels	50.0	7.0	6.0	[13.0F]	8.0	7.0	7.0	6.0	5.0	4.0
8		10001	WILD OATS XI	Bob Oatley	61.0	9.0	8.0	8.0	7.0	9.0	8.0	9.0	[9.0]	3.0
9		10081	LAHANA	Millard/ Honan	62.0	8.0	10.0	7.0	6.0	6.0	[13.0C]	8.0	8.0	9.0
10		SYD100	INVESTEC LOYAL	Anthony Bell	76.0	10.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	10.0	9.0	10.0	10.0	[10.0]
11		11888	RODD&GUNN WEDGET	Bill Wild	104.0	13.0C	13.0S	13.0S	13.0S	13.0S	13.0C	13.0C	13.0C	[13.0S]
11		10	Q	Ian Oatley	104.0	13.0C	13.0S	13.0C	13.0S	13.0S	13.0C	13.0C	13.0C	[13.0R]

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week website