Cruising sailor wins Audi at Hamilton Island

by Rob Kothe on 28 Aug 2006 A Queensland mining industry diesel mechanic Dave Short and his sailing mates on a Hunter 33 Pro Beat Passion had a big day on Saturday, the last day of the 23rd annual Hahn Premium Race Week.

Leading the non-spinnaker cruising division on handicap, disaster struck when the mainsail split in two. Lacking a sail repair kit, they used VB cord and a stainless steel shark hook to do mid-race repairs. They sailed to a race and division victory by just three seconds.

The big day continued at the Presentation Dinner when Dave Short was handed the keys to a brand new Audi A4 Avant by Audi’s managing director, Mr Joerg Hofmann.

The 43 year old has worked around the world on exploration drill rigs, done some hard years in Mongolia, Eritrea, Ghana and Tanzania and when he was not in mining camps, he’d been going back to his family at Ballina, in northern New South Wales.

He always wanted to go to sea. A year ago, he bought his cruising yacht in Sydney and sailed it north and now works across Queensland and the Northern Territory, returning home after each stint to his yacht in Townsville Harbour.

He entered his ‘home’ in Race Week 2006, with the support of life time friend Dave Parker, a former Pacific Sailing School instructor and his business partner Dorian Taylor from Pro Beat Entertainment.com, a NSW Central Coast Night Club Audio and Light Systems supplier, who sponsored the entry.

His mates flew up to Townsville and together they sailed down to Hamilton Island.

‘We came here with just the core crew of three and then we’ve picked up extra crews, people who were just keen to get out and have fun, some of the local tradesmen and crew from other boats, from Wutuka,’ Dave Short explained.

‘We came down here just to have a good time. I’d never sailed in a race before and so we hatched a plan, straight out of Blackadder. Our plan was so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel. We decided ‘we were made of steel and could not be broken’ and the second part, ‘let’s not touch anything’.’

The plan worked, they won the first race. In the second race, their number one light began delaminating as they worked up the Dent passage and the Mylar ballooned away.

Dave Parker explains. ‘We were on a mission, I went forward and ripped off the Mylar, nothing could stand in our way. We won line honours and on handicap.’

Going into the final race, they realised they could win the regatta. Dave Short recounts; ‘We turned around the top mark, we looked up and saw the main was in two pieces, only holding together by the leech line. The guys said 'go upwind, so we can pull it down. I said ‘no way; we have to win this race’. We eased the main a little, they got it down, and they did a quick repair, stitched up the main and up it went again.’

Pro Beat Passion won the race by three seconds on corrected time from the Bryan Hudson’s Catalina 320, Catalyst.

With Audi on board as official vehicle partner, throughout the week sailors had the opportunity to compete in the Audi Final Challenge, a motorkhana course on the tarmac at Hamilton Island airport, run by motor sport Ambassador, Brad Jones.

Dave Short had recorded the fastest time of all the division winners, with 21.9 seconds on the track and that provided him with the Audi A4 Avant car keys.

‘The guys from Wild Oats and Loki did not think I looked fast on the course, but I think I’ve done more driving around mining camps and to the pub at the end of a long shift than most sailors,’ he grinned.

This year Audi was the official car partner of the event and as of 2007 will take over as the naming rights sponsor, with the event becoming known as the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

Dave Short and his mates can’t wait. ‘Next year we are going to come back, with some sail tape and a spinnaker and we’ll give the Cruising Division a shake!’

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