IRC Cruising Day Three at Hamilton Island

by Al Constable on 23 Aug 2006 Yesterday Colin Well's Northshore 370 Gusto crept along the rocks, under the scree walls on the side of Pentecost Island, with the bowman hanging over the bow, wearing his Polaroids looking for rocks.

Well's explained, 'We were pin boat and we were fast, we staying well left and we were very close on the bricks and that delivered our win.'

Luke McGrath’s Sydney 36 Greater Springfield continues to lead the IRC Cruising fleet, after three days of racing at Hamilton Island. They were fast out of the box winning the UBS South Molle Race and then took second in the Club Marine Edward Island Race and sailed into third place in the Pine Island Race.

The Brisbane crew had expected the larger boats in this hotly contested class to sail away with their bigger jibs in the very soft conditions, in the 20 mile Pine Island race yesterday.

North Sails Brisbane Etchells sailor Vaughan Prentice calling tactics with fellow Etchells sailor Mick O’Brien. Prentice commented after racing yesterday; ‘We had another good start, but the bigger boats broke away, then they stopped near Pentecost Island and we sailed up to them. The race started again and we did well on the light run, sailing through a lot of the boats. However, we've definitely used up our 'Get Out of Jail Free' card.’

In a gutsy performance, Colin Well’s Northshore 370 Gusto won by more than seven minutes on corrected time from Ian Griffiths Jarkan 39 Amity with the Sydney 36 in third place.

David Beaks' Beneteau First 44.7, Mr Beaks Ribs, was first across the line just 12 seconds ahead of Ray Harris' Beneteau First 44.7, Honeysuckle.

Earlier Ray Harris, with Michael Spies calling tactics, had sailed Honeysuckle into the lead on the water and on handicap, but as Ray Harris explained, 'we were first to the parking lot, then we started going backwards, we nearly had to put an anchor out and the fleet sailed around us, first to tenth in fifteen minutes.'

This is the fourth Honeysuckle for Harris, and they have all been Beneteau’s. He started with a 36.7, then moved into the cruiser racer classes with the 40.7, 47.7 and now the First 44.7. Harris is very happy with the 11 month old 44.7.

'The big surprise for me is just what good light weather boats these are.’

Series Place	Sail No	Boat	Type of Boat	Class	Owner	Handicap	Series Points	Race 1 South Molle/Daydream Island Race	Race 2 Club Marine Edward Island Race	Race 3 Tuesday Race
1	ST36	Greater Springfield	Sydney 36	ICR	Luke McGrath	1.054	6	1	2	3
2	MH102	Honeysuckle	Beneteau 44.7	ICR	Ray Harris	1.115	9	2	1	6
3	8447	Mr Beaks Ribs	Beneteau 44.7	ICR	David Beak	1.114	12	4	3	5
4	6555	Gusto	Northshore 370	ICR	Colin Wells & Ian Burns	1.044	16	7	8	1
5	9000	Amity	Jarkan 39	ICR	Ian Griffiths	1.093	24	12	10	2
6	Q40	Alegria	Archambault A40	ICR	Rodney Jones	1.121	24	3	5	16
7	AUS1407	Liesl	Beneteau 40.7	ICR	Phil Edmiston & Friends	1.064	29	9	7	13
8	9447	Afternoon	Beneteau 44.7	ICR	Greg MacMahon	1.114	33	5	4	24
9	6595	Brilliant	Beneteau 34.7	ICR	Howard & Susan Piggott	1.006	33	11	15	7
10	N40	Cabernet Sauvignon	Archambault 40	ICR	Stephen Mackay	1.122	38	16	14	8
11	SM880	Alien	Lidgard 36	ICR	Mike Welsh	1.037	38	17	12	9
12	98	Zoe	Murray 12.5m	ICR	Wayne Millar	1.157	41	6	6	29
13	MH11	Viva la Vita	Northshore 370	ICR	Tony Bates	1.076	44	18	16	10
14	MH35	Fordified	Bavaria Match 35	ICR	Damien Ford	1.029	45	20	21	4
15	6424	Monkey Magic	Bavaria Match 42	ICR	Rob Robertson	1.097	45	8	9	28
16	7447	Alacrity	Beneteau 44.7	ICR	Matthew Percy	1.121	50	15	13	22
17	6222	Avanti	Northshore 369	ICR	Bruce McKay	1.068	52	19	19	14
18	7407	Chancellor	Beneteau 40.7	ICR	Scott Munro	1.063	53	13	22	18
19	M333	Whisper Four	Dufour 44	ICR	John Hall	1.095	54	10	17	27
20	RQ447	Ultimate Positioning	Beneteau 44.7	ICR	Paul Bright & Tam Faragher	1.111	55	21	11	23
21	6543	White Satin	X 43	ICR	William & Nevine Neill	1.098	57	22	24	11
22	777	Mach 1	Bavaria Match 38	ICR	John Stokes	1.056	61	24	18	19
23	6343	Great Xpectations	X-43	ICR	Rod Wills	1.101	63	14	23	26
24	6584	Bear Necessity	C&C 115	ICR	Andrew Dally	1.065	65	25	25	15
25	5522	Union	Bavaria Match 42	ICR	Bruce Ritchie	1.094	66	26	20	20
26	M2	Hasta la Vista	Sydney 38	ICR	J Londres/D Phillips/P Voigt	1.112	70	23	26	21
27	6496	Manic Moment	Bavaria Match 35	ICR	Ray Hudson	1.036	73	29	28	16
28	ME153	Probuild Constructions	Hanse 371	ICR	Tim Lewis	1.000	75	30	33	12
29	447	Arabesque	Beneteau 44.7	ICR	Sean Winder	1.113	84	27	27	30
30	S38	Moomba	Oceanic 46	ICR	Warwick Hutchins	0.988	90	32	33	25
31	202	Pucker Up	Murray 42	ICR	Phillip Harvey	1.143	92	28	33	31
32	826	Dream Lover	MBD 12.3m	ICR	Rick Morgan	1.190	96	31	33	32