Whitsunday Sailing Club sprint race series on Pioneer Bay has resulted in no clear cut favourite to win the local boat of the series trophy in the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week in August.
Across the fifteen races that have taken place since early March, there have been eleven different winners with the John Galloway skippered Queensland Marine Services winning three closely followed by the duelling line honours contenders the Terry Archer steered Questionable Logic and the Charles Wallace skippered Reignition each scoring two wins.
On consistency Jeff Brown presently holds the ‘Bragging Rites’ having steered his Northshore designed sloop 007 to record a 1-2-2-2-2-3 to hold a minor advantage over Queensland Marine Services 1-1-1-3-3 and the Kevin Fogarty helmed Spacesailor Idle Time 1-2-2-2-3.
The spread of results involving fifteen crews and eleven individual race winners suggests there will be a tactical arm wrestle when the sails are tensioned for the important points in the Meridien Airlie Beach Race Week from August 12-18.
Every skipper and crew naturally understand that the results from the sprint races while being important will be put to the test when they are forced to protect the space and handicap rated speed for the major points in the longer Island passage races and the windward/leeward events on Pioneer Bay.
Terry Archer celebrated his first Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week by winning the Pacific Pontoon and Pier sponsored Performance Handicap class series with his AC 40 Questionable Logic. He set the platform following a spirited duel with the Charles Wallis helmed Reignition in the opening race over the Double Cone and Armit Island course.
Reignition was the faster in terms of line honour winning the first to finish honours with a course time of three hours fifteen minutes nine seconds but the Questionable Logic crew sailed the smartest in comparison to handicap ratings to secure the faster corrected course time with a 36 second win.
The result which equated to Questionable Logic winning the battle by .86 seconds per nautical mile eventually paved the way for her crew to win the honour of the best local yacht of the series in 2010.
They have gained another important 12 months in understanding how to twitch the boat speed and skipper Terry Archer believes both he and crew will be well prepared to defend their overall Performance Handicap championship when the opening regatta in the annual Festival Sails begins on the Whitsunday Sailing Club courses in mid August.
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