2015 IRC Australian Championship – IRC fleet switches mode

by Lisa Ratcliff on 17 Aug 2015 The IRC Australian Championship fleet switched modes today, Monday August 17, 2015, to short round-the-buoys racing off Hamilton Island.

Two races in to the championship pointscore that falls under the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week umbrella, Karl Kwok’s TP52 Team Beau Geste (RNZYS) leads the division A results by one point. The newest IRC version of a TP52 showed a vulnerable side after Matt Allen’s TP52 Ichi Ban took a win off the usually unbeatable crew in the first race of the day, in 14-8kt sou’easters.

Based on first impressions Ichi Ban’s tactician Gordon Maguire believes Team Beau Geste has the edge in heavier air and Allen’s Sydney boat is more competitive in the light. “First impressions usually aren’t right though,” Maguire joked. “Beau Geste being experienced TP52 sailors on a new boat and us sailing a new class of boat means we are both feeling our way this week. Each day is a training day. These are very complicated boats; the complexities are there so you can tweak away and make the boat go faster. If you adjust the wrong way though, it can be detrimental.”

Maguire described today’s breeze as “streaky”, adding “it seemed like everyone else was in a better streak”. PRO Denis Thompson made course adjustments during both windward/leewards and set the line at different bearings for each start as the breeze swung to the east and came and went.

On handicap the three TP52s are holding out the other designs so far. Phil Turner’s RP66 Alive with Andrew Hunn on the helm is under pressure to find form among the professional crews, and finished the day with one less spinnaker in the cupboard.

David Fuller and Jamie Wilmot’s Corby 49, Vamp, has hit the lead in IRC division B thanks to two wins. “They were great conditions for Vamp,” admitted skipper David Fuller. Tactician Peter Messenger’s calls were shrewd, making sure the boat banged the start line on the right side and stayed left on the deep-water course.

There was sufficient wind to push Roger Hickman’s weighty but always well-sailed IRC division C defending Australian champion, Wild Rose, around the track fast enough to beat the lightweights on corrected time. Andy Kearnan’s L’Altra Donna is second after three races and is right where Hickman expected, in his shadow.

A key Race Week function for sailors is tonight’s dinner at Romano’s hosted by Hamilton Island CEO Glenn Bourke and featuring gold medallist and Team Oracle America’s Cup sailor Tom Slingsby talking about a range of sailing topics including Australia’s preparation for next year’s Rio Games.

So far whales have stayed hidden from the IRC fleet but over at the Dent Passage start for the remaining divisions a lone snake was swimming mid-channel, oblivious to the amount of fast moving yachts under spinnaker heading its way.

Tomorrow is the pre-layday traditional Club Marine Classic Long Race for IRC division A and Multihull racing starting from the eastern course area at 10am, a 61 nautical mile endurance test around one of the most beautiful sailing playgrounds in the world. The remaining IRC divisions, Cruiser/racer and IRC passage will line up for a Medium distance race of 41 nautical miles and all other divisions will complete another round the islands race in winds that are expected to trend downwards.

 IRC Division one

Place	Boat Name	Sail Num	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	TEAM BEAU GESTE	IVB1997	Karl Kwok	4.0	1.0	2.0	1.0
2	ICHI BAN	AUS001	Matt Allen	5.0	2.0	1.0	2.0
3	SECRET MENS BUSINESS	YC3300	Geoff Boettcher	10.0	3.0	4.0	3.0
4	HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD	AUS8899	Ray Roberts	11.0	4.0	3.0	4.0
5	CELESTIAL	6952	Sam Haynes	16.0	5.0	5.0	6.0
6	WILD OATS X	AUS7001	Mark Richards	18.0	6.0	7.0	5.0I
7	ALIVE	52566	Duncan Hine	20.0	7.0	6.0	7.0

 IRC Division two

Place	Boat Name	Sail Num	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	VAMP	43218	Fuller Wilmot	5.0	1.0	1.0	3.0
2	QUEST	7075	Bob Steel	6.0	3.0	2.0	1.0
3	KHALEESI	46	Andrew&Pauline Dally	9.0	2.0	3.0	4.0
4	AFTER MIDNIGHT	8778	Mark & Greg Tobin	16.0	5.0	6.0	5.0
5	VENTO	00400	Walter Lewin	17.0	7.0	8.0	2.0
6	PONYO	6838	David Currie	17.0	4.0	4.0	9.0F
7	DEKADENCE	RQ432	Stephanie Kerin	19.0	6.0	7.0	6.0
8	MAC 2	USA153	John McDougall	20.0	8.0	5.0	7.0

 IRC Division three

Place	Boat Name	Sail Num	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	WILD ROSE	4343	Roger Hickman	7.0	4.0	2.0	1.0
2	L'ALTRA DONNA	6935	Andy Kearnan	11.0	5.0	1.0	5.0
3	MORE NOISE	SM3131	Jason Close	12.0	2.0	3.0	7.0
4	CORUM	HKG1088	Todd Anderson	13.0	3.0	4.0	6.0
5	GAUNTLET	3627	Craig Ellis	14.0	6.0	6.0	2.0
6	JUSTADASH	7722	Philip Dash	15.0	7.0	5.0	3.0
7	CORROBBOREE	9501	Robbo Robertson	18.0	1.0	7.0	10.0
8	THEPHILOSOPHERS CLUB	MH20	Peter Sorensen	23.0	8.0	11.0	4.0
9	BOTANY ACCESS COCOMO	5845	Justin Brownbill	26.0	10.0	8.0	8.0
10	KOKO	63344	Roy Leslie	29.0	9.0	9.0	11.0
11	TREASURE VIII	RP36	Robert Davis	30.0	11.0	10.0	9.0

 Cruising Division one

Place	Boat Name	Sail Num	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 2	Race 1
1	MISS MINX	0505	Chris & Lauren Thorpe	12.0	6.0	6.0
2	PLATINUM	SM76	Chris Barlow	13.0	12.0	1.0
3	VIRAGO II	6813	Dave Rooke	15.0	8.0	7.0
4	ALLEGRO	6723	Adrian Lewis	16.0	14.0	2.0
5	PILGRIM	E226	Paul Ley	19.0	2.0	17.0
6	ABRACADABRA	5612	James Murchison	20.0	4.0	16.0
7	ONE O NINE	1109	Robert Salteri	20.0	7.0	13.0
8	ZOE	98	Wayne Millar	20.0	11.0	9.0
9	WHITEBIRDS	788	Bob Bird Paul White	21.0	18.0	3.0
10	ENCORE	00100	T.Lewis J. Milledge	22.0	10.0	12.0
11	SMOOTH OPERATOR	SB509	Russell Durham	23.0	5.0	18.0
12	TAKANI	6981	James Whittle	23.0	13.0	10.0
13	SHAZAM	PD447	Doug Ryan	25.0	3.0	22.0
14	PHARLAP	8885	Sandy Spencer	27.0	1.0	26.0
15	MAXI RAGAMUFFIN	7007	Keith Batt	29.0	21.0	8.0
16	L'ESPRIT	7041	Peter Byford	29.0	9.0	20.0
17	INFINITY	AUS52	Edward Fader	30.0	19.0	11.0
18	CHRISTINE	S77	Paul Bunn	31.0	17.0	14.0
19	HELSAL3	262	Rob Fisher	32.0	28.0F	4.0
20	CONDOR	KB80	David Molloy	33.0	28.0C	5.0
21	XSCAPE	AUS501	John Foster	35.0	16.0	19.0
22	CONCERTO	SM5892	James Morris	38.0	15.0	23.0
23	FIRST LIGHT	6666	P White/ C Stannard	43.0	28.0R	15.0
24	LE COCHON NOIR V	NA	Roman Guerra	44.0	20.0	24.0
25	VANISHING POINT	22000	T Ryan	47.0	22.0	25.0
26	SILVER LINING	SM1155	Andrew McGrath	49.0	28.0F	21.0
27	JOURNEY	SM61	Bryan Dorman	56.0	28.0C	28.0C

 Cruising Division two

Place	Boat Name	Sail Num	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 2	Race 1
1	COOPERS	3810	Craig Watson	13.0	1.0	12.0
2	THAT BOAT	6782	Darryle Dransfield	13.0	2.0	11.0
3	LUNACY	SB445	Chris McSorley	14.0	12.0	2.0
4	VANILLA	BOW17	David Perkins	14.0	10.0	4.0
5	AVANTI	B19	Philip Cormie	15.0	6.0	9.0
6	AVVENTURA	7044	Peter Mumford	16.0	9.0	7.0
7	BEDFORDCA THREE CS	B45	Charles Cupit	18.0	17.0	1.0
8	BUNDABERG	G16	John Kint	19.0	16.0	3.0
9	VITESSE	1021	Ian Thomson	19.0	5.0	14.0
10	KATE	R53	John Raff	19.0	13.0	6.0
11	LEE-WAY	135	Stephen Humpeis	22.0	3.0	19.0
12	KITE RUNNER	11000	Phil Jobe	26.0	4.0	22.0
13	CEILIDH	237	Peter Williams	26.0	8.0	18.0
14	MORTGAGECHOICE RUMBA	6232	K Burke/R Carr S Cook	27.0	11.0	16.0
15	BARUCH	SB560	Glenn Watson	29.0	24.0	5.0
16	HOLY COW!	6797	John & Kim Clinton	29.0	21.0	8.0
17	KICKATINALONG	1317	Graeme Poole	30.0	7.0	23.0
18	ERESSEA	6590	John Bankart	30.0	15.0	15.0
19	UPSTART	L41	Michael Daly	31.0	14.0	17.0
20	LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE	SM501	Sam Pavic	33.0	23.0	10.0
21	CHARM OFFENSIVE		James Permezel	35.0	22.0	13.0
22	ELUSIVE	R6608	Rick Pacey	39.0	18.0	21.0
23	LLOYDS TOO IMPETUOUS	3663	Rudy Weber	44.0	19.0	25.0
24	SYNERGY	RQ410	Ron James	45.0	25.0	20.0
25	WIDE LOAD	4198	Elaine William Alan Mcclintoc	46.0	20.0	26.0
26	FLYINGFISH LET LOOSE	M604	Walter Jorgensen	50.0	26.0	24.0
27	CHANTILLY	R56	Timothy Dutton	55.0	28.0F	27.0

 Cruising Division three

Place	Ties	Boat Name	Sail Num	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 2	Race 1
1		SEA WAFER	R473	David Pascoe	7.0	5.0	2.0
2	3.0S	D'EUPHORIA	6956	Mike Selbie	8.0	3.0	5.0
3		WINDSONG OF M'TON	M5	Jim Watson	8.0	4.0	4.0
4	2.0S	KAYAMI	BOW28	Brian Pozzey	9.0	2.0	7.0
5		ENGARDE	B55	Roger Johnston	9.0	6.0	3.0
6	2R	RHYTHM	BOW29	Ray Sweeney	11.0	1.0	10.0
7		NORTHERN MOMENT	C192	Vic Stevens	11.0	10.0	1.0
8		OSCARS RIDE	RQ1982	Peter Driml	13.0	7.0	6.0
9		OASIS	662	Merv Stephensen	18.0	9.0	9.0
10		QUATTRO	F8	Jason Daisley/ C&C Monaghan	19.0	11.0	8.0
11		ESCAPADE	C200	Mike Schmidt	20.0	8.0	12.0
12		KARMA	BOW27	David Angus	23.0	12.0	11.0
13	2R	CONDESA	BOW19	Mark Gaskell	30.0	13.0	17.0C
14		PLUNDER	191	Ry Spalvins	30.0	17.0C	13.0
15		SATISFACTION II	RQ725	Malcolm Wallace	34.0	17.0F	17.0C
15		SANUK 11	547	Harvey Michael	34.0	17.0F	17.0C