Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week – Results

by Rob Kothe & Al Constable on 16 Aug 2007 Airlie Beach produced a winner with the 2007 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week final day being sailed in glorious tropical weather on the wide expanses of Airlie Beach’s Pioneer Bay.

The overall winner of the IRC division was Geoff Pearson’s Arajilla, the Archambault A35, racing in her first regatta. Helmed by former Olympian Nev Wittey, Arajilla performed well all week and held her form to finish fourth on handicap today, good enough for her happy crew to win the top trophy.

Geoff Pearson, co-owner of the Archambault 35 with Eric Stano, commented, 'She is a fast little boat and well rated. Nev Wittey has done a fantastic job, we've been sailing with Tim Olding from Melbourne and Nev’s partner Janie and today we had Phil Yeomans.

‘It’s very heartening to know that a little production boat with sails, costing just on 300k, can compete with boats costing five to ten times that amount.

‘Of course Rod Jones and the Alegria team have been getting top class results too, but today we can say 'Archie Arajilla wins at Airlie.’

Michael Hiatt’s recently modified Cookson 50 Living Doll finished second. Hiatt commented this afternoon ‘we learnt a lot and we are looking forward to Hamilton.’

Quantum Racing finished third, on count back from rival Quest.

Today Quest, Bob Steel’s TP52 with Martin ‘Tacka’ Thompson on the helm, won IRC Race 7 on handicap on the final day of the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week.

Hong Kong entrant Beau Geste, the Reichel Pugh of Karl Kwok was second, with Ray Roberts' well campaigned Cookson 50, Quantum Racing in third.

In Premier Cruising, John Bacon’s Hussy (Sydney 39CR) completed a good regatta with a handicap win in Race 6. John Moore’s Sydney 36 This Way Up finished second and Esprit, Garry Anderson’s Beneteau 47.7 was third.

John Bacon has been hogging the trophies. In 2004 Hussy took the overall honours in IRC Cruising and she repeated the feat today, being declared overall series winner in Premier Cruising. Consistency was her key, a third being her worst placing in the regatta.

‘

I love this place' beamed the Royal Prince Alfred sailor this afternoon. Today I handed the wheel to Andy MacPhail and I did main; the crew were on fire. We had good boat speed and we did two top mark gybe sets which paid handsomely.'

Western Australian John Moore sailed his Sydney 36 This Way up into second place with Esprit completing the podium placings.

In the Cruising with Spinnaker division, The Bigger Picture (Sydney 38, Penny McConaghy) won Race 6 on handicap, from local identity Don Algie’s Storm 2 (Warwick 66) from the Whitsunday Sailing Club. Chris Stockdale’s Kat (Beneteau 50) from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia was third.

Overall division winner was Storm 2 and the happy crew could be heard loudly cheering dockside as the news was announced.

Sunrise, Jeff and Helen Shipsey’s Elan 37 was just one point behind in second place, with Hans On, Col Cox and Nick Thomas’ Hanse 370e, third.

‘Not a bad regatta’ beamed Algie (the regatta founder). ‘I am pretty sure we will be back here again next year.’

In the Cruising Non Spinnaker division, Keith Munro’s Bavaria 50 Time Lord won Race 6 on handicap from Bill Bailey’s Elan 43 Relish IV. A good result for the ‘locals’ too with John Hudson’s Lady Hawk from the Whitsunday Sailing Club in third place.

The overall series winner was Lady Hawk, from Delphian, John Sloan's McIntosh 47 and Fish Frenzy.

Stephen Keal’s Frer 50 Fish Frenzy, formerly Cyclone, used to be called a slow moving depression, now she’s been reconfigured as a pilot house sloop. Keal has interests in a couple of Tasmania, restaurants hence the boat name. The youngest crew member on the boat is 61. Today the oldest, 69 year old Jim Buchanan, was hit by the boom on the last beat. There was blood on the teak for a while but dockside he received seven stitches from a New Zealand surgeon from Wired.

Saving the best till last, the Sports Boat fleet today experienced the best breezes of the regatta. Race 8 on handicap went to Raptor, Mark Buchbach’s Stealth 7 from the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Leon Thomas and crew in Rock n’ Roll finished second, with Tom Jordan’s Liquid Tactics third.

After sailing consistently throughout the regatta, Rock n’ Roll, Thomas’ Townsville based Thompson 7 won the highly prized class trophy. They are heading back up to Townsville for Magnetic Island Race Week, which starts the first week of September. In second place was It’s What You Do, Brett Whitbread’s Elliott 780, with Heath Walters Melges Asia Pacific in third.

Thomas, who has sailed the last six Airlie Beach Race Weeks, earlier on Guilty Pleasure and the last two times on the sport boat Diva, paid credit to the previous owner. ‘I bought the boat just before the regatta from Keith Williams and it was just ready to Rock n’ Roll.'

Race Director Denis Thompson commented, ‘The new courses that Russell McCart (Meridien CEO and long time regatta entrant) and we laid out together were a great success. We plan to build on that next year.’

‘I’d like to especially thank the volunteers from the Whitsunday Sailing Club, who have again worked hard to make this event a great success for the sailors and for the Airlie Beach community.’

		IRC RACING
Series Results [IRC] up to Race 7 (Drops = 1)
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Design	Sers Score	Race 7	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		6669	ARAJILLA	Geoff Pearson	MHYC	Archambault A35	14	4	5	1	1	1	2	[5.00]
2		R50	LIVING DOLL	Michael Hiatt	rycv	Farr	16	[6.00]	3	2	4	2	1	4
3	1.0S	8899	QUANTUM RACING	Ray Roberts	CYC	Cookson 50	21	3	1	5	[8.00]	4	7	1
4	1.0S	52002	QUEST	Jamie Macphail	CYCA	Farr Tp 52	21	1	6	[11.00Q]	3	6	3	2
5		HKG2245	BEAU GESTE	Karl Kwok	HKG	Reichel Pugh	21	2	2	4	5	5	[6.00]	3
6		A33	INVINCIBLE	Harold Clark	BYC	Farr 1104	29	5	4	3	2	8	[8.00]	7
7		43218	LIMIT	Alan Brierty	CYCA	Corby 49	33	7	[7.00]	6	6	3	5	6
8		9009	NIGHT NURSE	Russell McCart	rqys	Farr 40	41	8	8	7	7	7	4	[8.00]
9		NZL10303	WIRED	Rob Bassett	RNZYS	Bakewell-White	53	9	9	8	9	9	9	[9.00]
10		NZL8977	RAN TAN 2	John Meade	RPNYC	Elliott 50	59	10	10	9	10	10	10	[10.00]
		SPORTS BOATS
Series Results [PHC] up to Race 8 (Drops = 1)
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Design	Sers Score	Race 8	Race 7	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		5887	ROCK N' ROLL	Leon Thomas	TCYC	Thompson 7	20	2	5	3	[9.00]	3	2	4	1.00G
2		5652	IT'S WHAT YOU DO	Brett Whitbread	syc	Elliott 780	25	5	[19.00F]	4	4	1	1	7	3
3		AUS668	MELGES ASIA PACIFIC	Heath Walters		Melges 24	30	4	6	7	[8.00]	5	3	3	2
4		RQ777	RAPTOR	Mark Buchbach	RQYS	Stealth 7	36	1	3	2	1	[14.00]	8	13	8
5		1	LIQUID TACTICS	Tom Jordan	MYC	Egan 6	43	3	1	1	5	9	15	[15.00]	9
6		AUS709	KAITO	Heath Townsend	GBYC	Melges 24	44	6	8	9	[14.00]	7	9	1	4
7		138	FEELING CHEEKY	Brett Cooper	RYCT	Young Rocket 7.80	57	8	9	11	[13.00]	6	6	11	6
8	5.0S	RQ69	ELIXIR	Andrew Fisher	RQYS	Elliott 7.8	59	19.00C	[19.00F]	5	6	2	10	6	11
9		RQ202	STEALTHY	Bob Cowan	LMYC	Stealth	59	7	7	15	2	[19.00R]	7	14	7
10		RQ200	SO WHAT	Franco Bortolin	RQYS	Stealth 7.8	63	19.00C	19.00S	[19.00F]	3	10	5	2	5
11		38	TOO HOT TO TROT	Bruce/Eric Tardrew/K	RQYS	Lyons	64	9	12	8	10	8	12	5	[14.00]
12		B1	VIVACE	Peter Sorensen	MHYC	Bethwaite 8	71	19.00C	2	19.00O	7	[19.00R]	4	10	10
13		7701	MEN IN BLACK	Rod Young	MDSC	Colson 770	75	10	10	10	16	4	13	12	[19.00C]
14		6	RIP IT UP	Damien Van Deudekom	RQYS	Knuckles 6m	83	19.00F	4	6	11	11	16	16	[19.00F]
15		5747	THE WORKS	Michael Rynan	rmyc	Elliot 770	84	[19.00C]	14	12	15	12	11	8	12
16		R980	DARK ENERGY	Janet Williamson	RPYC	Thompson 980	99	11	13	13	17	15	17	[17.00]	13
17		7002	DECKIES.COM.AU	Ashley Gabrielson	MOFSC	Thompson 7	107	19.00C	19.00C	19.00C	12	[19.00C]	14	9	15
18		734	X2 TANGENT	Simon Vincent	NQCYC	Elliot 780	113	19.00F	11	14	18	13	19.00C	19.00C	[19.00F]
		CRUISING YACHTS WITH SPINNAKER
Series Results [PHC] for Division 4 up to Race 6 (Drops = 1)
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Design	Sers Score	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		SA10	STORM2	Don Algie	WSC	Warwick 66	33	2	[15.50]	4	11	15	1
2		W677	SUNRISE	Helen & Jeff Shipsey	WSC / APYC	Elan 37	34	7	11	[12.00]	4	7	5
3		H370	HANS-ON	Nick / Col Cox / Tho	MYC	Hanse 370e	37	8	7	10	[12.00]	9	3
4	2.0S	A60	ZULU CHIEF	David Simpson	myc	Steinman Pilot House	41	4	[19.00]	3	18	14	2
5		322	FAHRENHEIT	Andy Muirhead	TCYC	Farr 11.6 Mod	41	[15.00]	6	13	8	8	6
6		6215	KAT	Chris Stockdale	CYCA	Beneteau 50	42	3	2	1	20	[20.00]	16
7	4.0S	6051	THEBIGGER PICTURE	Penny McConaghy		Sydney38	43	1	4	[19.00]	16	4	18
8		5899	BOBBY D	Ross Winterbourne	NQCYC	Farr	43	12	1	[20.00]	5	13	12
9		50	SWORDFISH	Doug & Clare Barry	BYC	Northshore 38	46	10	9	16	10	1	[20.00]
10		3610	TURTLE TIME	Jason Randall	WSC	Swarbrick Spacesailo	46.5	13	5	2	[19.00]	16.5	10
11		6146	KIONI	Nick Athineos	CYCA	Beneteau 47.7	48	6	[20.00]	9	6	10	17
12		B88	INGENUE	Rosie Colahan	RBYC	Jeanneau So 40	49.5	11	13	15	[15.00]	2	8.5
13		9111	ROPABULL	Mike Roper	RMYC/BB	Beneteau	52	[16.00]	10	14	3	11	14
14		M42	WHITE PEARL	Gary McCarthy	MYC	Simonis Voogd	53	14	14	8	[14.00]	6	11
15		34	TREASURE	Harold Menelaus	WSC	Dehler 34	53.5	18	17	[18.00]	7	3	8.5
16		RQ40	MELTEMI	Jim Shannon	RQYS	S&S 34	55	19	18	[24.00O]	2	12	4
17		6523	HOLY COW!	John & Kim Clinton	CYCA	Beneteau Oceanis 523	56.5	[17.00]	8	6	13	16.5	13
18		M298	FINE LINE	Mike Leitch	MYC	Elliott 1050	57.5	5	15.5	17	[17.00]	5	15
19		B60	GUSTO 1	Brian Pattinson	RBYC	Open 60	60	9	[24.00C]	5	9	18	19
20	1.0S	606	MORE INTRIGUE	Merv Stephensen	RQYS	Northshore 38 C	63	20	12	11	1	19	[21.00]
21		BOW2	BLISS	Paul Verdon		Azzura Yachts	63	24.00C	3	7	22	[24.00F]	7
22		BOW4	STEALING BEAUTY	Adam Dando		Beneteau Cyclades 43	112	24.00F	24.00C	21	21	[24.00F]	22
23		6657	PANTOMIME IV	Michael Kelly	CYCA	Moody	119	24.00C	24.00C	24.00C	24.00C	[24.00F]	23
		CRUISING NON-SPINNAKER
Series Results [PHC] for Division 5 up to Race 6 (Drops = 1)
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Design	Sers Score	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		W39	LADY HAWK	John Hudson	W.S.C.	Beneteau Oceanis390	16	3	3	7	1	[9.00]	2
2		SM1616	DELPHIAN	John Sloan	SYC	Mcintosh 47	22	[11.00]	2	2	5	7	6
3		5090	FISH FRENZY	Wayne Banks-Smith	BYC	Ior Frers 50 Pilot/H	23	8	8	5	[12.00]	1	1
4		PC86	SHEARWATER	Mick Phillips	WSC	Spencer	24	6	5	[11.00]	6	4	3
5	2.0S	4337	RELISH IV	Bill Bailey	CYCA/RANSA	Elan 43	26	2	7	[9.00]	7	2	8
6	2.0S	BOW1	FELICITY	Lachlan Wilson	WSC	Clansman 30	26	5	6	8	2	[13.00F]	5
7		HI30	THE OCEANIC HUSTLER	Bill Lipson	HIYC	Gary Mull Ohlsen 40	26	4	[9.00]	6	4	8	4
8		S12	RAINBOW	Peter Hall		Beneteau 473	27	9	1	4	3	[11.00]	10
9		K8913	TIME LORD	Keith Munro	ssanz	Bavaria 50	28	1	11	3	[11.00]	6	7
10		KA215	SPLISH TOC	Stuart Garner	APYC	Garner 254	32	7	4	10	8	3	[11.00]
11		PF57	PLANIT FLASHDANCE II	Brian Evans	CYC	Adams Radford	41	10	10	1	10	10	[12.00]
12		NZL8835	ISLAND GIRL	Ian Lillie	SSANZ	Farr 1220	49	13.00C	13.00C	[13.00C]	9
		PREMIER CRUISING
Series Results [IRC] up to Race 6 (Drops = 1)
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Design	Sers Score	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		9339	HUSSY	John Bacon	RPAYC	Sydney 39cr	7	1	3	[3.00]	1	1	1
2		MH360	THIS WAY UP	John Moore	MOFSC	Sydney36	10	2	1	2	3	[4.00]	2
3		SM477	ESPRIT	Garry Anderson	syc	Beneteau 47.7	12	3	2	1	[4.00]	3	3
4		G5038	CINQUANTE	Ian Murray	RGYC	Sydney 38	22	4	4	4	5	5	[6.00]
5	4.0S	AUS1407	LIESL	Greg Clinnick	Charter boat	Beneteau First 40.7	23	5	[8.00F]	6	6	2	4
6		SYD181	BERANI VII	David Todner	CYCA	Jarkan 12.5s	23	6	5	5	2	[6.00]	5
7		6676	TOTALLY WILD	Graham Macdonald	BBSC	Masram 920	34	7	6	7	7	7	[7.00]
		SPORTS BOATS
Series Results [PHC] up to Race 8 (Drops = 1)
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Design	Sers Score	Race 8	Race 7	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		5887	ROCK N' ROLL	Leon Thomas	TCYC	Thompson 7	20	2	5	3	[9.00]	3	2	4	1.00G
2		5652	IT'S WHAT YOU DO	Brett Whitbread	syc	Elliott 780	25	5	[19.00F]	4	4	1	1	7	3
3		AUS668	MELGES ASIA PACIFIC	Heath Walters		Melges 24	30	4	6	7	[8.00]	5	3	3	2
4		RQ777	RAPTOR	Mark Buchbach	RQYS	Stealth 7	36	1	3	2	1	[14.00]	8	13	8
5		1	LIQUID TACTICS	Tom Jordan	MYC	Egan 6	43	3	1	1	5	9	15	[15.00]	9
6		AUS709	KAITO	Heath Townsend	GBYC	Melges 24	44	6	8	9	[14.00]	7	9	1	4
7		138	FEELING CHEEKY	Brett Cooper	RYCT	Young Rocket 7.80	57	8	9	11	[13.00]	6	6	11	6
8	5.0S	RQ69	ELIXIR	Andrew Fisher	RQYS	Elliott 7.8	59	19.00C	[19.00F]	5	6	2	10	6	11
9		RQ202	STEALTHY	Bob Cowan	LMYC	Stealth	59	7	7	15	2	[19.00R]	7	14	7
10		RQ200	SO WHAT	Franco Bortolin	RQYS	Stealth 7.8	63	19.00C	19.00S	[19.00F]	3	10	5	2	5
11		38	TOO HOT TO TROT	Bruce/Eric Tardrew/K	RQYS	Lyons	64	9	12	8	10	8	12	5	[14.00]
12		B1	VIVACE	Peter Sorensen	MHYC	Bethwaite 8	71	19.00C	2	19.00O	7	[19.00R]	4	10	10
13		7701	MEN IN BLACK	Rod Young	MDSC	Colson 770	75	10	10	10	16	4	13	12	[19.00C]
14		6	RIP IT UP	Damien Van Deudekom	RQYS	Knuckles 6m	83	19.00F	4	6	11	11	16	16	[19.00F]
15		5747	THE WORKS	Michael Rynan	rmyc	Elliot 770	84	[19.00C]	14	12	15	12	11	8	12
16		R980	DARK ENERGY	Janet Williamson	RPYC	Thompson 980	99	11	13	13	17	15	17	[17.00]	13
17		7002	DECKIES.COM.AU	Ashley Gabrielson	MOFSC	Thompson 7	107	19.00C	19.00C	19.00C	12	[19.00C]	14	9	15
18		734	X2 TANGENT	Simon Vincent	NQCYC	Elliot 780	113	19.00F	11	14	18	13	19.00C	19.00C	[19.00F]