Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week - Sports Boat Speedway

by Ian Grant on 2 Aug 2010 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week - Sheer sailing excitement will again be on parade when Australia’s fastest sports boats compete for the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week title over the tactically demanding Whitsunday Sailing Club courses from August 12-19.

Former French Kiss syndicate Americas Cup sailor Pierre Gal will return with his new high performance challenger Kiss while 2008 Audi Australian IRC champion Peter Sorensen is expected to again be a front line challenger with Conquistador.

Both skippers Pierre Gal who races under the Coffs Harbour Yacht Club burgee and Peter Sorensen who ranks among the most successful sailors to compete for Sydney’s Middle Harbour Yacht Club are exceptionally competitive.

Gal who previously raced Conquistador has an important knowledge of her power sailing performance but is banking on having an edge in boat speed with the similarly designed new challenger Kiss.

However Peter Sorensen has proved to be no slouch at pressing a claim to sail in the faster lane which suggests the two champion skippers and their crews will again become involved in an Americas Cup style match race for the Hutchinson Builder’s championship trophy.

Peter Sorensen like Pierre Gal has left nothing to chance with Conquistador spending a few days with expert Brisbane boat builder Merv Anderson who has added a ‘secret refinement’ to improve the speed and control.

Theoretically Conquistador will be faster under spinnaker but the challenge rests with the talent of both skipper and crew to prove the expected advantage when they face up against Kiss in what promises to become another exciting series of ‘drag racing’ to win the gun-boat of class title.

Similar interest will focus on the performance of the 2009 champion Cam Rae who steered the Royal Geelong Yacht Club’s Laminar Capital to an impressive win last August.

Laminar Capital which was expertly sailed by her skipper and crew won six of the ten races to clinch the series by a commanding 7 points over West Australian Heath Townsend with a further point to Townsville skipper Leon Thomas faces a much stronger line up this year.

They again promise to set another high bench mark for their rivals to match however while the Laminar Capital rightfully retain the honour of being the pre regatta favourite both skipper Cam Rae and crew can expect to face a test of physical endurance and tactical skill in a bid to become the first to win back to back titles at Airlie Beach.
But first the Laminar Capital crew will have to gain an edge over arch rival Heath Townsend.

The talented West Australian who heads up an impressive four Melges 24 class challenge with Kaito will also need to be on the pace to answer the challenge from the three New South Wales skippers Warwick Rooklyn in Bandit, Harley Walters in Matilda and former World Etchells champion Cameron Miles in Roger That who promise to add the required tactical clout to give the match racing Melges 24 class crews a strong chance to feature in the arm wrestle for the important championship medals in the final on August 19.