Second Time lucky for Townsville sailors

by Rob Kothe and Al Constable on 6 Sep 2008 Last year they had a horror start, in fact for Leon Thomas and his Townsville crew aboard their 7 metre sports boat Guilty Pleasures, a non start, in the 2007 Sunferries Magnetic Island Race Week. T-Boned in a prestart collision, the boat limped back to Townsville not even having started a race.

In contrast today, Guilty Pleasures the smallest boat in the IRC Racing fleet, outgunned a top class fleet. With her giant asymmetric spinnaker powering her home she won by almost five minutes on corrected time from Mike Steel’s 34 footer Boudicea with Graham Donnell’s Feral third.

As expected New Zealand sailor Rob Bassett took line honours with state of the art 52 footer Marley Wired. Marley Wired had won every race in the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach series but suffered gear failure, which had them sitting on the beach for key races at Audi Hamilton Island Race.

In today’s 23 mile Four Foot Rock Race, Marley Wired romped away from the fleet and was a clear leader as she headed east towards Cape Cleveland.

Behind her was her major rival Wayne Millar’s Zoe, with Guilty Pleasures and her 2007 nemesis John Stokes Mach 1 next.

Then it all turned ‘to custard’ for the race leader. With the wind dropping away, Marley Wired changed to her lightest spinnaker and was just ghosting along. She finally reached the new line of sea breeze two miles short of Cape Cleveland and not long after she rounded Four Foot Rock. On the way home the big Kiwi boat outran the breeze.

Dockside Bassett was smiling, ‘a beautiful day, but tricky conditions. We were just too fast for the sea breeze. If we get more pressure tomorrow, it could be another story.’

Wayne Millar, skipper of Zoe, ‘It would be nice to say the detour we had to make around a humpback whale and calf coming towards the finish line cost us the race but in fact, all the little boats came home on the building breeze.’

Leon Thomas commented, ‘The building breeze did assist us as it did Boudicea and Feral, but local knowledge certainly helped today. We knew that the wind would bend nicely as the seabreeze filled in so we straight lined home and made a big gain.’

In the PHS Division Kachina, Phillip McGuire’s (McGuire 11.1) won on handicap from Illusion, the Adams 10 of Graham Van Brederode. Wild Spirit, the Elliot 9.6CR of Kevin Home was third.

In the Cruising with Spinnaker Division Ian Johnson’s Lightwave catamaran Two Shea won on handicap from Murray Whitehead’s Adams Radford, Savanna, with Paddy McCutcheon’s Farr Phase 4, Farrago, third.

In the Cruising Non Spinnaker division Kevin Shanks’ Farr 1104 Bushwacker II won from Dick Cerny’s Aussie Rules (Beneteau Oceanis) with the Michelle Petrie helmed Ngak Ngak (Beneteau 57) third.

Full results at www.magneticislandraceweek.com.au