Magnetic Island Race Week- glorious sailing and delighted skippers

by Tracey Johnstone on 29 Aug 2014 North Queensland turned on its best spring winds and sunshine to send the SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week fleet around 20 mile The Strand Bay Race.

The 56-boat fleet raced in glorious conditions as the breeze went from five knots for the Performance Division start, building throughout the early afternoon to just on 20 knots which helped push the Cruising division boats quickly home.

The first boat home was Darryl Hodgkinson’s Cookson 50 Victoire with his usual tactician, Sean Kirkjian calling the shots and local Townsville sailor Mark Vickers as navigator.

Kirkjian was relatively happy with the sailing conditions and how the Victoire team worked the boat. “The middle left probably did a little bit better than us. We had our blinkers on and were going a bit harder out to the left. I think that breeze blowing around the mountain down to the south was more 140, 150 and a bit more right with occasional big flicks going left. The local knowledge was right in terms of telling us where to look,” Kirkjian said.

The combined local and Sydney crew on Victoire worked well on the first race day, but Kirkjian admitted there are a few bumps that need working out. “We broke a jib sheet and that’s communication. Trying to remember the person’s name and yell stop. There is a bit of that with 15 people. It makes the racing interesting and I get to yell a bit,”Kirkjian added.

The second fastest boat around the course was Andrew Stransky’s 50-foot catamaran, Fantasia. Even though he is racing in the Multihull Racing division, he has set his team a goal of proving Fantasia can beat the big monohulls around the race track on elapsed time. Today his missed out by just over two minutes.

The Performance handicap winner was a very shocked Never a Dull Moment team. Owner Colin Wilson was beside himself when he found out they had won the first race. He was quick to announce to the large post-race cockpit party on the boat the surprising results. 'Did we win ? Bloody hell ! There goes my handicap for the rest of the regatta,' Wilson joked.

'I am shocked. We had a bit of luck out there. We went right instead of left. Will Oxley said to go left, but it wasn’t showing it. We went right and got up to the top mark not too far behind Victoire and Spirit of Mateship. After that, it was a matter of hanging on,' Wilson added.

In second place was Peter Jones and his Mates4Mates team on Spirit of Mateship. The boat is crewed by a combination of regular crew and a handful of selected of Australian Defence Force veterans most of which are sailors expect for one very excited 25-year-old Sean O’Malley. The active Military Police member, who has seen service in Afghanistan, travelled down from Darwin to join in the team after being nominated for the experience by his commanding officer. His first introduction to the Volvo 60 footer and to sailing was a three-hour training session yesterday.

'I wanted to go straight back on and go out again,' O’Malley said. After his first race, O’Malley said he is hooked on the experience. 'It’s quite like the military. It’s quite quiet and then when things happen, everyone starts screaming and people start doing things,' O’Malley added.

In third place was the Brisbane-based Beneteau 50, Jane Virtue and Dave Waller’s The Matrix.

In the Cruising Division 1 it was the big boats day. Geoff and Vicki Player’s Silver Minx, a Sydney team and dock mates to Never a Dull Moment, took handicap honours. The sleek Beneteau Sense 50 kept at bay Victorian entry, Paul Lindemann’s 49 footer, Biddy Hu II, with Doug Ryan’s 44 foot Shazam finishing in third.

Ron Knott’s Dusty Muzzle achieved the dubious honour of being the only OCS recorded today. Regatta Director Denis Thompson called him a likely early starter at the one minute gun as Dusty Muzzle charged down towards the line. With boats all around him, there was nowhere for the keen racer to go other than ahead and over early at the gun. It was a costly mistake for the team with them finishing well down the in the 16-boat fleet.

Another honourable mention goes to Angus Fletcher and his Tevake II team. They were having a great day until their number one jib blew itself out with its only future being in a local garbage bin. It’s a sad outcome for the Victorian team as they only have one light jib and the forecast is for softening breeze in the last two days of the regatta.

Cruising Division 2 was won by Townsville Yacht Club commodore Tony Muller and his Brava Team. In second was Victorian entry, Paul Jackson’s little Duncanson 28, Run Run Run. In third was the NSW entry, Peter Cox’s Valhalla with his Cronulla Sailing Club mates on board.

Muller was carrying a grin from ear to ear as he celebrated the very special race win. 'I have had the boat for three years this Christmas and this is the first race that Brava has won in any way, shape or form,' Muller said.

'The boat was fast today. That always helps. And we sailed to the right places and didn’t make any mistakes. That helps too. Normally we do all three of those badly.

'That was our breeze as well,' a happy Muller added.

The Non Spinnaker Cruising division was won by local sailor, Russell McLaughlin and his Freya team. In second was Mike Walter’s Mim and in third, Ivor Burgess’s Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club team on Still Dangerous.

Multihull Racing was taken out by Stransky’s Fantasia. He had a strong start at the pin end and powered away from his smaller division mates to chase the big monohulls. In second place was Rupert King’s Overdrive and in third was Graeme Etherton’s The Boat.

King joked he might have to tie a few buckets to Fantasia’s centerboard to slow them down. 'They’re a really good boat. They sail well and they rate really well. They seem to have it made, but no one is unbeatable,' King said. He is hoping that another windy day tomorrow will help his Overdrive to close the gap between Fantasia and themselves.

In Multihull Cruising Ken Gibson’s Resolute II took out first on handicap ahead of Ian Johnson’s Salacia and Rob Finucane’s Promiscuous in third.

Racing continues tomorrow with all divisions scheduled to compete in the Round the Island Race with the first start at about 1100.

The weather forecast for tomorrow’s racing is for another south-east 10 to 15 knots, building during the afternoon to about 20 knots.

For full results and all event information, http://www.magneticislandraceweek.com.au/