New Living Doll 55-footer for Michael Hiatt

by Peter Campbell on 17 Aug 2008
Melbourne yachtsman Michael Hiatt is sailing his second last regatta, the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week – and leading the IRC series - with his current 50-footer Living Doll.

Hiatt will take delivery mid-September in Auckland of a new Living Doll, a Farr-designed, state-of-the-art 55-footer being built by Cooksons, the leading New Zealand boat builders.

‘We are racing here at Airlie Beach and then at Hamilton Island…then we repaint the boat and hand her over to my good friend Rob Hanna from Royal Geelong Yacht Club,' said Hiatt, a member of the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria.

‘The new boat will be named Living Doll and the old boat will be renamed Shogun,’ he said. ‘We expect to take delivery of the new boat early in September, and possibly contest the Coastal Classic before sailing her across the Tasman to Melbourne.’

Hiatt, who imports fashion clothes, including the Living Doll range from China, has owned the Cookson 50 for four years. ‘While we can keep close to the canting keel Cookson 50s and TP52s, we feel the 55-footer will enable us to get out in front and sail to her rating,’ Hiatt added. ‘Like the 50, she will be a conventional keeled boat but with a lot of the ideas we have refined aboard the 50-footer.’

After three days and four races in the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week, the current Living Doll has a handy margin of 5 points from the brand new Beneteau First 45, Bluewater, owned by Graham Jones, from the Port Douglas Yacht Club. Just one point back is Audi Centre Melbourne, the Corby 49 owned by another Melbourne yachtsman Chris Dare, from Sandringham Yacht Club.

‘We had two good races today; although Bluewater beat us into second place this morning, we beat all the ones we wanted to,’ Hiatt added.

Bluewater, a luxuriously fitted-out racer/cruiser upset the grand prix 50-footers by winning on corrected time the first of two 8 nautical mile windward/return races sailed today on Pioneer Bay.

Owner/skipper Graham Jones, who made his name as skipper of the little half tonner Beach Inspector in early Sydney – Mooloolaba races, steered Bluewater exceptionally well in both races today for a win and a second.

‘Today was only my third day of sailing the new boat, but I had a good team on aboard, including Peter Antill and David Stewart from my old club, the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club on Pittwater,’ Jones said.

Success in today’s two windward/leeward races, sailed in 18-22 knot south-easterlies, hinged on good starts, picking the wind shifts and faultless spinnaker hoists and gybes,

New Zealand’s Wired, Rob Bassett’s canting keel Bakewell-White 52, took the gun in both races from Ray Roberts’ Cookson 50 Quantum Racing, also a canting keeler with Living Doll close astern and sailing well within her rating.

Midway through the regatta, with a lay day tomorrow, Living Doll is on 7 points (placings 3-1-2-1) followed by Bluewater on 12 points (4-5-1-2) and Audi Centre Melbourne on 15 points (1-4-4-4).

Last year’s overall IRC winner Arajilla, Geoff Pearson’s Archambault 35 from Middle Harbour Yacht Club, scored her fourth successive win on corrected time today.

She comfortably beat Gordon Ketelbey’s Sydney 38 Zen, also from MHYC, in both short races and heads the pointscore with 4 points (1-1-1-1) with Zen on 9 points (2-3-2-2) and Harold Menelaus’ Sea Quest RP36 Treasurer VIII third on 12 points (4-2-3-3).

At 79, Menelaus is the oldest owner/skipper in the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week, representing the host club, Whitsunday Sailing Club.

Full results available at : http://www.airliebeachraceweek.com.au