Light start for Hogs Breath Multihull Rendezvous

by Jo Djubal on 31 Aug 2006 Airlie Beach played host to a spectacular fleet of 27 multihulls on Sunday and Monday as the 2006 Hogs Breath Whitsunday Multihull Rendezvous kicked off in light winds. Boats have come from as far away as Melbourne to compete in the event which is set to become Australia’s premier multihull championship. With humble beginnings in Laguna Quays some years ago, this year sees the introduction of OMR for the Racing Division with six local boats lining up for measurement last week.

A fun social agenda sees presentation nights alternating between Hogs Breath Café and the APYC headquarters at the Anchorage Bar at Shingley Beach Resort where the Home Made Swimwear Competition is sure to prove entertaining.

The first two days of racing have seen local speedsters enjoy some fresh outside competition, Peter Millar’s, Spudgun, Bob Thompson’s Sirocco and Keith Roberts Wild Thing chasing the transoms of Danny McMillan’s Grainger tri, Venom.

Div 1 Results so far have seen Venom gain a well deserved Line Honours on Day One with PHS results – first - Farrier F24, Outrage, second - Sprint 750, Triton and third - Farrier F24, Coco Loco. Similar conditions forecast for day two.

The seventeen strong Cruising Division is an interesting mix of everything from the 6m Haines Supertramp trimaran, Cheap Little Inshore Tri, to the 17m Perry catamaran, Zambezi.

With the focus on fun, these boats and their happy crews have been enjoying the racing experience with many showing they can still get up and go. Local Pizzy designed cat, Zippy showed great form along the shortened course on Day One to finish first on handicap, followed closely by Scott Millar’s Triple Vision in second and Cheap Inshore in third making the fastest time for the day was Graham Argalls Burgess 10, Adios.

Div 3, Cruising –No Spinnakers is the smallest Division, 12m Grainger, Cat Imagine, Chamberlin 12, Montage and Burgess tri, Paxos opting for a laid back Rendezvous without wrestling spinnakers. Day One saw Jeff Wall sail his Burgess Tri, Paxos into first and fastest with Chamberlin cat, Montage in second. The mill pond conditions saw a few DNFs on the day but all competitors were smiling after a great day on the water.

Day Two offered just enough breeze for all boats to finish the triangle course with Farrier F24, Outrage first in Race 1, Division 1, followed by another F24, Coco Loco in second and Venom sailing brilliantly to line honours and also third Race 2 for the Racing Division saw Outrage continuing their winning streak with Triton not far behind them and 8.8m Burgess Tri, Pronto, earning a well deserved third. Spudgun couldn’t be caught in speed, narrowly beating Venom across the line for Line Honours.

In Division 2 it was Edlin tri, Overdrive who sailed across the line first, while PHS results saw Triple Vision taking out the first prize with Overdrive second and Fusion 40, Blonde Moment third.

Division 3 saw the final line up being Paxos fastest and also first, Grainger Cat Imagine, second and Montage third.

Day 3 the Layday saw competitors ferry to Daydream Island for 'The Offshore Mini Golf Championship'. The final result of the day showed yacht handicaps being applied to the scorecards as team Spud Vision and team Bushytails equalled on 335 each! Corrected score was Bushytails winning on 296 and Spud Vision finishing up with 363!!

Wednesday’s 25 knots saw, as predicted local Wild Thing and Spudgun take honours respectively in OMR Div 1. Passage Race. The strong winds dismasted local catamaran Piglet and also flipped trimaran Thrill Neck.

More on that in a couple of days!